


Days I've spent Without You

by Dullahan



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: A LOT of Angst-y stuff so PLS BEAR WITH ME, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Basically their whole story told in a different 'light', Cheating, It's not really an AU but ressembles one?, It's only at the beginning tho, Jealousy, M/M, Me and My Weird Habit of randomly capitalizing Words, Mild Language, Mild Smut, Probably not in that order, Romance, There's a bit of Kisekaga, au-ish, see what i did there?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-04 22:41:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 36,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4155720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dullahan/pseuds/Dullahan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine and Kagami's high school lives started with one of them slowly giving up on finding a worthy rival, and the other in search of a stronger one. Though both reasons were as opposite as night and day, the two ace players found out that, except for their thoughts concerning a mutual favourite sport, they were basically the same in nature and instincts.<br/>Friendship wasn't exactly how they started their relationship, but, soon, it wasn't enough.</p><p>Author's note: This fic was created and written after I've seen and analyzed the actual story, so don't worry for OOCness. It shouldn't really happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Gimme back my free time!!! *feeling sad but happy* *cries of frustration*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine starts to relive the memories buried deep inside him, searching for their fated meeting and his renewed vigour concerning basketball after Kagami's appearance in his life.

Aomine Daiki is in a relationship with Taiga. With Kagami Taiga.

This is something his old self could not have predicted and would have believed when hell freezes over. 

You could say that when they met on court for the first time, Aomine had immediately taken an interest and possible dislike towards Kagami Taiga. He didn't really do anything in particular to piss him off, but if Aomine had to find a reason, then it'll be this overbearing, overpowering aura he felt from the other teen as soon as he entered the Zone.

Though basketball really wasn't how they met.

He still remembers their first encounter as if it was only yesterday...

 

 _He was actually feeling down because after he had purposefully skipped practice and didn't even touch a basketball for two months in a row, when he came back, hoping,_ desperately _hoping, that someone could finally beat him because of his lack of training, nobody could._

_It hurt. It hurt to be powerful. It hurt to get scared of your own power. It hurt to fear your own strength._

_And it hurt Aomine in the worst way possible._

_It wasn't the sort of physical hurt you could get from falling on the floor or scraping you finger on a knife, it was a faint, throbbing ache that starts from your heart, from_ inside _your heart, and that consumes it entirely, slowly spreading until you can't feel your limbs, until you can't see colours, until only a world of black and white lays before you and you feel bigger. But at the same time, you feel smaller. It's as if the universe had forgotten that you were there simply because you overwhelmed them all. Simply because your power was equivalent with that of a bigger being than yourself._

_Simply because you were too good._

_"Aomine-kun."_

_"Arghhhhhh!" Aomine's head knocked with full force on the wall as he jumped towards the right. He glanced around and saw Kuroko, quietly licking an ice-cream, innocently looking up at him like he didn't just scare the shit out of Aomine._

_Well, it had been too long, too long since he last saw his friend. After graduating from Teikou, he had lost track of all his former teammates._

_Struggling to regain his composure, he massaged the back of his head and gave Kuroko a pointed glare. "Testu, where the hell did you come from?"_

_Kuroko only raised his eyebrows as if the answer was obvious. "I was always here, you just didn't notice."_

_"Ahh...Nevermind, you always say the same thing anyways." he said to himself. The throbbing pain in his head had dulled and he only just noticed that Kuroko was checking his messages in his phone, scrolling down and smiling softly._

_"Did you get a new girlfrien-Wai-Ow!!!" Aomine earned himself a sharp jab in the ribs from Kuroko before he could've finished his sentence and, to be honest, he deserved it._

_"No, Aomine-kun, to be clear, I'm not interested in things like that. And the messages were from Kagami-kun." Kuroko said._

_"It would be interesting for you to meet Kagami-kun someday." he added as an afterthought._

_Now Aomine had a dulled headache and a new pain near his stomach. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't vomit everything that he had eaten before digesting it._

_Meet Kagami? From Kuroko's description, the guy was surely a pain in the ass. He always says that Kagami acts before he thinks, that he's the kind of guy who's stupid enough to forget where he is when he's thinking, that he can get lost by turning one wrong corner, and that he's_ still _not used to Kuroko sneaking up on him. After Kuroko's speech about Kagami's mistakes and habitudes, Aomine was left laughing so hard it hurt and he was practically rolling on the floor, tears welling up in his eyes (at this point Aomine does not realize that Kuroko was also talking about him.)_

_From the description above, sure. He seemed like an interesting person._

_Maybe he was Aomine's destined rival._

_Aomine chuckled darkly to himself after he had that thought._

_How many times has he been lying to himself, how many times was he hopeful for a rival, for a person who could make him look forward to playing?_

_How many times has he hoped and hoped that the next person, always the next person, could beat him?_

_And how many time have they already proven that no one can?_  

 

* * *

 

_He made his way back home, only stopping by the convenience store to read the latest edition of Mai-chan's magazines and get an energy drink. As he kicked off his shoes, the both of them finding comfort at the opposite walls, he started to plan his next two months's schedule, meaning that he won't go to practice and will sleep, sleep, sleep, eat, read Mai-chan's magazines and oh, maybe sleep some more._

_Of course, all of these plans were going to take place at the rooftop._

_Hopefully this time Satsuki won't find him._

 

* * *

  

_It was wrong of him to hope for the best._

_She was more like a nagging mom than anything else and he 'tsk'ed when she shouted, "Dai-chan! I know you're up there so why don't you, for once,_ nicely _get your lazy ass down here before I take the pleasure to drag it down?"_

 _Aomine grunted and,_ very slowly as if he had all the time in the world _, got up from his comfortable sunbathing position on the roof and climbed down the ladder, making sure to sigh and grunt at each step just to make Satsuki even more annoyed than she already was. Even though he knew that making her less than happy would only earn him a slap on the back of his head, which was already mistreated by Kuroko and the goddamned wall, but he just couldn't help it. It was Satsuki, after_ _all._

_"I was enjoying the sunshine even without your help, Satsuki, so can you just leave me to it?" he said._

_It seemed like his childhood friend was in a slightly better mood than she usually is, because she still didn't hit him. "If, one day, I really leave you, it'll be for a good reason."_

_"Doubt you'll ever find one then," he muttered, "So, what's up?"_

_"The sky."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Well you asked what's up so I answered 'the sky'." Satsuki smirked, fully knowing that Dai-chan, who never paid attention to anyone else, didn't know the stupid old joke that had been once very popular almost five months ago._

_"No, but I meant...argh! You know what? Forget it."_

_"Okay, I'll spill." Satsuki said, her faced suddenly turned serious, into the seriousness she always possessed when a really important match was about to start, and when she had really important data about the players of that match._

_"You'll be playing Kagami Taiga at this Winter cup." she announced, " And as you very well know, Seirin is strong. So I need to tell you about all the data that I collected during their matches with the other teams and their-"_

_"Satsuki."_

_He wanted to tell her. He wanted to repeat the same sentence that had become his motto since he had made it a personal reason of looking down on everyone else when he was only in middle school. But he couldn't bring himself to see the flickering hope that Satsuki always had, that she still had for him vanish in her eyes, because she didn't need to know that he was already broken._

 

**_Don't you know already, Satsuki?_ **

**_The only one who can beat me is me._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's probably not how Kagami first met Aomine because I've seen the anime and manga but, eh, I just wanted to make the story better so I guess it's an AU?


	2. Hate at first sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Story of their first encounter before their first match (well it's invented but who cares?)  
> And Kagami realized that he didn't like the guy.  
> By the way Aomine still didn't realize this was Kagami but Kagami will know (well at the end).

Kagami's **POV of the past**

 

When we first met, it was a disaster.

_I was running down the street, trying to catch my morning bus. Suddenly, as I turned a corner, I bumped into something concrete._

_"Ow..." Great. Now I'm sure that by the time I get to school I'll be late. Plus the teacher already hates me since I used his head as a basketball once while I was sleeping in class._

_I looked up from the ground and saw an incredibly handsome guy._

_His tanned skin emphasized the colours of his eyes, bringing out the electric blue orbs inside his pupils and his same-coloured hair. His eyebrows and his mouth formed a permanent scowl edged on his face and he looked at me with a slightly annoyed glare. Just from looking at him, I could almost feel the muscles flexing beneath this guy's T-shirt, from what I could see, this dude surely worked himself hard._

_Heck, this guy looked like good basketball material.  
_

_"Like what you see?" The guy's smirk somehow had the power to annoy me immensely as I felt a vein on my forehead pop up._

_"Haa? As if." I replied and stood up. Then, just out of courtesy, begrudgingly offered his hand to the stranger. The immediate liking I took for his face was as sudden as the immediate disliking I took towards the handsome guy's personality the moment I heard him talk._

_No point hurrying to class now, I'm already late. I'd rather take my time._

_"Well, I do consider myself to be attractive, if I may say so," the guy accepted my offered hand and stood up, swatting his shirt from the dust with his hands and shaking his legs vigorously, as if sitting for a while on the ground made him stiff._

_He made sure to lift his arms so that his forearms and biceps stood out, each muscles flinching and flexing. His shirt raised a bit, just enough to show his almost perfect six-packs. I'll admit that I was impressed, but not nearly enough, mainly because I had them, too. His lips curved upwards again when he noticed me staring. So this guy was a show-off._

_I rolled my eyes, what a bastard._

_Said bastard stepped forward, and, before I could've stopped him, grabbed me by the collard and slammed me onto the wall. My struggles and attempts to free myself were futile against this guy. Damn, he was strong, and although I don't consider myself exactly weak, his grip only tightened when he sensed my opposition. I never should've underestimated him._

_"Oh, really? And to think you were checking out a bastard."_

_Oops, did I just say that out loud?_ _  
_

_"Yes, you did." he answered, his eyes narrowing in amusement and glinting in renewed interest. Like a beast. The former arrogant smirk that took over his mouth slowly stretched into a small smile. A smile that was pure. Gentle._

_Ok, I'll shut up now._

_"You better." Then his hands cupped my chin and, after turning my head to the side, he whispered in my ear, "Heh, you're kind of interesting."_

_I flinched when I felt his hot breath on my skin._

_The words that he had spoken echoing inside my mind, repeating themselves. The shivers ran down the back of my neck and my spine and there was this tingling feeling in my stomach. Everything that this guy I had just met coincidentally did made me angry for no reason at all. If there was a love at first sight, now I believed in a 'hate at first sight'._

_I was angry. Angry at myself to be unable to break free from this guy's hands, angry at him because, well, what was he_ doing _to me?_

_"Hey, want to go grab lunch?"_

 

_At this point, I think I forgot all about school._

_And that I was supposed to meet Kuroko in front of the gates._

 

* * *

 

_No, I never wanted this._

_I never wanted this at all._

_This guy forced me._

_All the excuses that I was conjuring in my head seemed all that they were. Only excuses._

_I think that somewhere in my mind, I knew that I was lying to myself. That I thought that this guy was attractive, but also that I was too stubborn and flabbergast by his real personality to admit it to myself._

_I was now in Maji Burger, ditching school and enjoying a serving of burgers with a guy I just met a few minutes ago._

_Since he offered to treat me, I came. After all, who can refuse a free meal?_

_"I'm never treating you ever again." he said, munching on a burger and looking at my plate with a sour face; which contained probably more than 20 burgers before and who now had only 3 burgers left. When he asked how many burgers I wanted and I said 20 or so to the lady in front of the counter, who seemed to recognize me from previous experiences, his eyes widened but he didn't say anything, for fear of it being seen as him backing out of his own offer._

_But his expression had looked so ridiculous that I didn't even have to force myself to chuckle, grin spread wide. I was laughing at his eyes trailing sadly on his poor wallet, who now seemed empty and hungry for more money._

_"I told you that I tend to eat -ahem- more than the average person, but you wouldn't believe me," I said, still smiling. The moment I said 'more than the average person', his eyes narrowed and he looked at me with a 'I-swear-you-eat-more-than-an-elephant' expression. Then I proudly extended my hand towards him, still eating my twentieth burger, so close to his face that I almost poked him in the eye. His head jolted back and he stared at me, perplexed._

_"What?"_

_"Payment," I said, "We were betting if I could eat more than 15 burgers."_

_"I never said that I'll pay you in money," the stranger said, his eyes twinkling, reflecting the sunlight coming from the glass wall. I raised one of my eyebrows._

_"Then wha-" My words were muffled by a pair of slightly chapped lips on mine. I was too shocked to respond instantly and remained still, my whole body as rigid as wood even as he pulled away, a look of sheer relaxation on his smug face. My mind seemed as if it didn't register the thought that a man I had just met had kissed me._

_"Aomine Daiki," he said simply, smiling slyly. I presumed that it was the stranger's name._

_"I promise that you'll see me again." he said as he left._

_And the door closed behind him with a jingle._

 

_It was soft, and tasted like teriyaki burgers. But behind it, there was this strong and powerful sensation lingering on my lips that left me craving for more._

_And it scared me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I described his emotions well and stuff...  
> It'll be mostly Aomine's POV but when it's Kagami's then it'll be written.


	3. On my Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine is lazing around campus, flirting with girls and stealing Sakurai's food. Life has never been better (because it's always the same).  
> But he just. Can't. Seem. To. Forget. About. Someone.  
> Someone who's name he never asked for.

_Aomine was having a conversation with a girl that was not in his class._

_This was rare._

_But he only bothered to listen to her because she had double D's._

_Her endless chattering was slowly making him wary, even though he got to admire her bouncing flesh for at least ten whole minutes, and she was making sure that he kept his eyes on them. Sometimes squeezing her arms together in front of her chest, and sometimes moving her body back and forth on her tip-toes just so that it revealed much more than what school uniforms should._

_But even then, his mind was somewhere else as his eyes followed the movements of the girl and saw the shapes forming on the girl's mouth, but not understanding the words she spoke. He knew that he was thinking about the guy he had bumped into on his way to the convenience store. The guy had looked flustered when he was walking, as if he needed to hurry up. Only until after Maji Burger had Aomine realized that he probably needed to go to school that day. But whatever, it wasn't his problem anyways if the guy had missed school._

_So why was he thinking of him?_

_That idiot had dared to call him a bastard. He had dared to say that Aomine Fucking Daiki was a bastard._

_Well, Aomine would forgive him this time because the guy didn't know who he was or what he was good at. But Daiki didn't dare admit to himself that he forgave him because of his smile. Of his stupid, innocent grin that had enlightened his whole face when he asked Daiki to 'pay' for the bet. And Aomine would have done anything to keep seeing it, but, at that moment, just for fun, he reached forward and kissed him._

_Now, thanks to his stupidity and habitude to think after acting, he couldn't get his mind off that simple, tongueless kiss._

_Aomine wasn't the kind of guy who'd get agitated because of a kiss. Even if it was a male. Certainly, he was surprised to find out that he was attracted -only slightly- to a male, but he accepted it nonetheless because it wasn't a big deal._ _Then Daiki had left him frozen on the spot, with a promise to see him again._

 _And he_ will _keep that promise._

_At that moment, Aomine still didn't notice that he had now turned his back completely to the girl, who was seemingly offended, and was starting to walk away from her with an annoyed face._

_"Daiki!" she whined loudly, with a face faking a supposedly cute pout. It was not cute at all in Aomine's eyes._

_He only glanced at her for an answer, and, without delaying, turned his face forward again and walked without another word. He heard her feet stomping on the ground, but he never bothered to look back again. This one was even more irritating than the last. Though they're all the same anyways. He preferred girls who didn't mind the concept of 'them', being a one-time thing. They weren't attached to him and didn't require lots of attention, while some were stubborn, they didn't mind his rough ways of doing things and they didn't need him to always be there, to act committed. He was free to go whenever he pleased. The ones in his school were trickier though._

_They always wanted to be what they called, a 'couple'. They wanted to kiss. To hold hands. To give each other chocolates on Valentine's day. To go on dates. To be treated with care and gentleness._

_And Aomine couldn't do that._

 

* * *

 

_Again, Aomine had skipped practice._

_Life had never been any better, though only because it was_ always the same _._

 _Maybe it was him who never changed. Maybe he needed a change. Maybe he just needed someone who would punch him in the face and yell at him to go to practice and that wouldn't be scared of the consequences of punching Aomine Daiki. But he just knows that_ _the only one who could trigger him to change was going to be his unknown rival._

_The only one who could allow him to be happy again, was someone he didn't yet meet. Tetsu said that he'll show up one day. Tetsu had promised._

_Why couldn't today be_ that _day?_

_He looked at the sky, wondering if every day that continued tomorrow, he'll be asking the same thing as he had done every day until now._

_Aomine had once believed it to be true. He had believed Tetsu, he had trusted his words and he had waited. He was waiting for two years and he was still waiting now. How long would he have to wait? How long before his mind goes crazy?_

_It wasn't as if he had lost hope, but he had lost_ something _. He knows it. He_ feels _it._

_Because, unlike before, every time he wished that his rival would appear, the voice in his head that was once full of excitement was now dull. Without emotion._

 

**_Dead._ **

 

* * *

 

_When he was sure that they had since long finished practice and that it was nearing their time for lunch, he convinced himself to stand up from the floor and walk towards the gymnasium with both his hands tucked inside his jacket and his hoodie hiding his face._

_Upon entering the huge court used only for the basketball team, he immediately went from the back door to the stage. He plopped down on his favourite place and waited. Thankfully, he didn't need to wait long before a ruckus could be heard, coming from the outside, then, " Aho-mi-ne Dai-chan!!! Why. Did. You. Miss. Practice. Again?!"_

_Each word and syllable of his name was accompanied by a punch to various parts of his body. For a_ girl _that was a lot smaller and seemed weaker than himself, Aomine was surprised to find out that Satsuki was actually very strong (when angry, of course). And he learned it the bad way._ _He still remembered the first day he met Satsuki, and remembered the first time when she had hit him._ _It was probably one of his most vivid memories._

_Even after years, he still couldn't forget how badly his cheek stung where her hand had slapped him across the face._

_And now he mostly avoided being on her bad side._

_"I don't need to go to practice," Aomine snapped at her. It was the one excuse that he always used and that no one could argue with. Because it was true._

_"Even though, they still can't beat me."_

_"But Dai-chan, even if you say that, you still need to keep up the team's spirit by showing up!"_

_"'Need to keep up the team's spirit?' They don't mind, Satsuki. And they expressed it clearly by letting me do whatever I want."_

_"But maybe that's because-"_

_"Because I never show up? Well, I don't need to." he said, ending the argument by glaring at her, directly denying any sort of comeback from her part._

_There were times when he was truly grateful that she was there for him, that Satsuki never stopped being his friend and that, though she can be irritating, she always told him to never give up. It wasn't as if he needed her to tell him, or that Satsuki pestering him would do much difference to his actions and thoughts, but he appreciated the gesture. Yet, sometimes, she could be more than mind-blowingly exasperating._

_Imayoshi took a step towards him from behind, without announcing his presence or any warning whatsoever, and threw a basketball at his head._

_And Aomine caught it with his fingertips, his body probably sensing the ball from behind him and his hands reaching out, not even batting an eyelash or moving from his previous spot, at all._

_"See?" he said, not even turning his head to see Imayoshi's incredulous expression. "It's no use."_

_Then he slowly got up from the ground and walked towards Sakurai, who was quietly enjoying his bento._

_"Thanks, Ryou." Aomine said, and before Sakurai could've responded, took a bite off his onigiri and walked away, hands ruffling the back of his neck._

_Before he disappeared behind the gym's closed doors, he turned back his head and asked, "When is the next match of the Winter Cup? The one with Seirin?"_

_Satsuki abruptly raised her head from her pile of data after Aomine had spoken_ _, the look of shock that had taken over on her face disappeared from it, replaced by a small smile_ _. A genuine smile that lit up her face even though only the corners of her mouth had moved._

 _"It's next week, Dai-chan." she answered._ _  
_

_He looked away. He knew that it was the first time since forever that he was truly interested in something. And the something was caused by various rumours of Seirin's new ace, and of his former shadow's improvement. He was warned to be careful with Tetsu, because the last time he saw him, he didn't feel any fear come from his former teammate. If he sensed anything at all, it was his determination to win. But_ _Aomine never intends to care. Sure, he was curious, but Tetsu could never beat him._

_Then, for no reason at all, when he thought about his unknown rival-to-be, a face popped up. The face of the guy whom he had bumped into yesterday morning._

_Aomine had thought the dude was weird, with his scrunched up eyebrows and dual coloured hair, but he was undeniably handsome._

_What the heck? This was the second time Aomine was thinking about him in one day and he didn't even know his name!_

_Wait._

 

_Shit._

_Aomine didn't ask for his name._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have a taste of boredom and maybe you guys won't even like this new chapter that just makes everything more complicated and still not doing anything for them and Sakurai's sorry sorry sorry.  
> But I hope it was good.  
> It's like my third fanfic so... \\(O///O)/ ~  
> And I felt like teasing Aomine, and not telling him that he already met Kagamin and make him suffer more, AND making him confused about the 'stranger'.  
> Hehehehe......


	4. What was your Name?...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their legendary meeting comes.  
> It's the long-awaited Seirin VS Too match, and Aomine sees the guy he had thought was only a stranger, only to find him to be Kuroko's new light.  
> And, for the first time, he's also unsure about the outcome of the match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there's a bit of angst there...with Aomine's emotions maybe it OOC and im sorry but that episode with Aomine crying was really an influence on my sanity so i needed to GET IT OUT.  
> Oh, and im sorry if IDK how to write a basketball match... I'll train so bear with it for now...

_It was the stranger._

_He was sitting on Seirin's bench, looking pumped up and smiling widely as if he was on top of the world. Aomine was sure that he talked to his teammates and told them that they had to beat Touou. His teammates had slapped him on the back and one was shaking his head._

_Before they had all gone and started warm-ups, Satsuki had gathered the team and warned them against Seirin's approaches._

_Suddenly, Kuroko noticed him staring and approached him slowly, getting up from the bench and walking towards his direction._

_"Aomine-kun," he started, but Aomine was not interested. His voice faded from Aomine's ears until he heard Kuroko say: "This time you may not win."_

_Aomine flinched when he heard what his former shadow had said because he wasn't the type to joke around. Maybe Kuroko was talking about his new light, but then he quickly composed himself: it couldn't be true. His own teammates were afraid of his true powers, that still waited to be released, and even without them, Aomine could beat anyone without any effort or concentration at all. His victory was certain, the outcome of this match was certain and Satsuki had been worried for nothing. He admits that Seirin is powerful, but they won't ever be strong enough for him._

_He stood up from the bench and walked towards the opposite team's apparent ace; the guy that he had kissed on a momentary decision. He hoped that he at least remembered Aomine's face. The red and black-haired player was facing the other direction, so he didn't sense Aomine, almost stalker-like approaching him from behind._

_"So..." Aomine said, whispering in his ear with his low voice, almost wanting to embarrass him just to see his reaction, "Do you have a name, or can I call you 'mine'?"_

_As expected, the stranger jumped and stumbled, but luckily caught himself before he fell on the ground. His face flushed and it looked like he had steam coming out from his ears and his cheeks were as red as a tomato. He opened his mouth to shout a reply -probably an angry one- but once he saw Aomine's face, his eyes widened in recognition and no sound came out from his mouth._

_"Aomine-kun, that's Kagami-kun."_

_Kuroko appeared behind the both of them out of nowhere. Kagami jumped again, but this time, Aomine was caught off-guard, too._

_"Where did you come from?!" Aomine really shouldn't be that surprised that he and Kagami had said the same thing, at the same time. Since they resembled each other -intelligence and stupidity alike-, they were practically sharing the same thoughts._

_"Wait, you're Kagami?"-"Aomine?"_

_Kuroko, even though his face was still unreadable, he was actually trying to stifle a laugh, that came out from his mouth anyway in form of a small choke that could pass as slight discomfort on the area near his throat. Then he just continued to cough and choke and gag so hard that Kagami and Aomine had to stop their millions of interrogation marks and help Kuroko, who was now turning blue, reserving their questions for later._

 

* * *

 

_The match started at the sound of the whistle._

_Aomine felt himself slump when he thought about how he could easily crush the opposite team's spirit. But he shook his head._

_**No** , this is Tetsu's team. He **promised**._

_He gathered his fleeing thoughts and tried to concentrate on the match. Which was hard, because it had been long since he had last had interest over winning. But he needed to try. If not for himself, at least for Tetsu and Satsuki, who never stopped worrying for him since middle school._

_This was easy. Aomine was not even trying, effortlessly jogging across the court and casually earning the first points of this match by dunking it inside the basket. How many dunks had it been since he had lost interest? How many points has it been since he had enjoyed the sport he once loved so much?_

_How many?_

_And how many more would he have to make before he fell in love with it again?_

_His eyes darkened and his scowl returned while his mind was blurred with the unhappy memories of his basketball experiences in middle school. As he was about to turn away, he saw a streak of red flashing by him and his eyes widened when he heard the crowd cheering, realizing what had happened in the mere few seconds when his mind was away, thinking about things that he desperately needed to forget. Kagami had scored._

_A small, sad smile returned to his face._

_At least Kagami was trying._

_For now, he'll **forget** everything that happened. Everything that made him hate the feeling of the ball's skin. That made him hate the people in the stades. That made him hate practices._

_He'll try, too._

 

* * *

 

_It's no use._

_He wanted Kuroko to pass him. He wanted Tetsu to prove to him that everything he had said was true, that everything would go back to normal again, but he had failed. Aomine had managed to steal Tetsu's ball when he used his misdirection, and he had managed to catch his Ignite Pass. He was never going to purposefully let Tetsu win, but, he knows that inside his heart, a part of him hoped that he would._

_It's no use._

_He was still a monster and would always be one._

**_There was no escape._**

_......_

_They were in the lead._

_And it only kept getting even more difficult for Seirin to catch up._

_The Kagami Taiga that Tetsu had bragged about could only reach so far in his abilities, and he still wasn't able to stop Aomine from scoring point after point._

...... 

_Everything was only a blur as Aomine watched his teammates score on Seirin's turnovers._

_He hated this feeling._

_This feeling of needing to fake his efforts, of needing to hold back._

_......_

_As Aomine watched Seirin's team members huffing and breathing heavily from the energy spent on the match and went back to the benches after their coach had called a time-out, he also remembered that there was also a time he was like that; but now, he wasn't even sweating._

_He saw their coach switching another in, replacing Tetsu on the court._

_So this was the limit to his potential, huh?_

 

* * *

 

_When he returned on court, he felt that something was off about Kagami._

_His aura was..._ different _._

_Kagami was right in front of him, and yet he had passed the ball to his teammate. It was unlike him to do so. Seirin scored with a lay-up after that same teammate faked a pass but the ball soon returned into Aomine's hands. He prepared for offense._

_Yet as he was about to decide on his move against Kagami, Kagami ended up moving before him and attempted to steal the ball. Naturally, his highly-sensitive reflexes told him to dodge, and he did. His instincts were more than often correct, making it so that Kagami couldn't reach the ball. Taking advantage of Kagami's momentary unbalanced state, he passed him with ease and flicked the ball forward with his wrists. Cheers from the crowd resonated inside the court as soon as the sound of the ball bouncing on the ground could be heard, after leaving the palms of his hands and flying across the air with astounding grace, forming a perfect arch._

_But you could see the shock in Aomine's eyes._

_Because the cheers were not for Aomine, they were for Kagami. The ball had fell outside of the rim, not even close to scoring._

_Kagami had blocked his shot._

_And when Aomine turned to look at him, the intensity in Kagami's eyes were like an animal's, his wild desire to win hissing and snapping like thunder in his red orbs._

_Kagami stared at him, too, when he noticed Aomine's eyes tracking his every moves. He knew that Aomine was surprised. He saw that fleeting expression flash across his face, if only for a split of a second. And then he saw his eyes widening._

_For a moment, Aomine couldn't believe his eyes. Then, slowly, his arrogant smirk appeared once again on his face, the same one he had used after kissing the stranger who was in front of him at Maji Burger, the same one he had not used since his middle school days. Maybe this was a fight worth fighting for._

_At that moment, his only thought was:_ **_Looks like I unleashed a beast._ **

_And Kagami only reinforced his thoughts by performing a formless shoot._

_As the ball flew past his fingers, only touching the tip of them, it grazed the corner of the rim and rolled off, not scoring. Aomine should have been happy that they hadn't scored a point. But he wasn't._ _Kagami had dared to try a formless shot in a real match. If he tried it, it meant that his determination was above everything that Aomine had expected, that the next time he'll try, he'll be more determined and precise than this time. It meant that the next time he'll try, the ball_ will _go in._ _He had challenged Aomine by doing a formless shot, and Aomine felt himself being inclined to accept that challenge._

_But, no. This Kagami...he couldn't possibly beat him._

_Aomine's mind was hazy and he felt the need to prove to this newcomer that he still had the upper-hand. That he can win without trying. With this renewed vigour, he furiously dribbled pass the red-head and prepared to jump. Kagami couldn't possibly block Aomine Daiki's formless shoot._

_He was wrong. Before he even jumped, Kagami was already in front of him._ _And his mind suddenly went in panic mode. He stumbled and still leapt, his feet leaving the ground a moment too late, his mistake almost too small to notice, and impossible to see if the ball succeeded in passing through the net, though he knew that because of his mistake, he won't be able to land properly without twisting his ankle. Kagami saw it, and he made use of it._

_Kagami jumped later than him, much later. So how could an almost two seconds delay make him jump so much farther in the air?_

_When he looked at Kagami's form, he almost forgot to breathe. It_ _was so beautiful, yet so fierce._

_The sound of the ball hissing near his ears and passing behind his head made his eyes widen as he realized that..._

_The ball was blocked._

His _ball was blocked._

 

_Aomine felt his butt hit the ground. Hard. But he couldn't care less._

_Now he realized that the one who had blocked his ball never properly introduced himself to Aomine._

**_What's your name?..._**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes cheesy pick-up lines and Aomine's hopelessly stupid thoughts about Kagami...  
> I hope it was good and im sorry about mistakes and stuff and this is STILL me blabbering about inexperience but it's true!!! heheh  
> XD  
> Aaaaaand I'm still running late...sawwy


	5. How it All turned out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The continuation of last chapter's story.  
> The end of the match.  
> And the start of a new friendship.  
> (And now you're all going 'OOOH, so that's why the chapter's name is 'A Turn of 180°' !!!' HAHAHAHAHA!.....no? OK FINE IT'S BECAUSE BEFORE HE WASN'T FRIENDS WITH HIM AND BEFORE HE DIDN'T HAVE A RIVAL)  
> Here, I said it.

_Aomine had lost._

_His mind wasn't even focused on the desire for revenge, wasn't even on the outcome of this match._

_His mind simply stopped working._

_He felt free._

_Free of his worries for never getting someone who could stand on the same stage as him, someone who could beat him, someone he could call his 'rival' without faking his efforts and someone with whom he could be just Daiki._

_Not the Aomine Daiki or Touou's ace or Teikou middle school's ace._

_Just Daiki._

_And, for him, it had been a long time since someone addressed him as a friend, and as a rival. As an equal._

_When the match ended with a 101-100 score in favour of Seirin, winning with only one point ahead of Touou, Aomine felt more relieved than angry. His thoughts about winning, about their matches, about everything that happened all disappeared when he heard the cheers from the crowd shouting, not for Touou, but for Tetsu's team. Since he first discovered the power he could have over basketball matches, his talents had intensified and polished themselves while the joy and release he found in the game decreased. Aomine couldn't bring himself to say anything to Tetsu. But he didn't need to, because his former shadow decided to say something first._

_"Aomine-kun, you never returned my fist bump."_

_Aomine paused. He never really thought about it until now, and he hesitated. It has been years since he last felt like this. The expression on his face was unreadable._

_Then, inside, his heart warmed and he chuckled. So Tetsu still thought about him as a friend._

_"Okay," he said._

_But this will be the last time._

_And he pumped his fist forward to connect it with Tetsu's._

_"What are you sulking about?"_

_Aomine's head whipped backwards when he heard the familiar voice nearly shouting near him, and found Kagami's face inches away from his, looking at him straight in the eye._

_"This, everything," Kagami said while waving around him, pointing at the basket, the ball, the crowd, the benches, himself, and, finally, at Aomine, jabbing him hard in the stomach, "It doesn't need to end. This is not goodbye."_

_Aomine's expression must have betrayed him, because Kagami's eyes softened. As if Aomine was almost hopeful that Kagami's words were true._

_Nobody said anything. Even Kuroko stayed quiet, looking at the pair._

_For a second, Kagami thought that he had seen a ghost of a smile on Aomine's lips, a pure smile, but then it disappeared and quickly turned into an arrogant smirk._

_"Bastard, you really think you can beat me?" Aomine said instead, his confidence returning and his horrible vocabulary making their appearance dramatically when he wasn't trying to flirt, unlike the day he had treated Kagami to more than twenty burgers, "The only one who can beat me is-"_

_"Me." Kagami cut him off, and winked._

_"Asshole." he added, courtesy to Aomine's previous insult 'bastard'._

_Gesturing to his sweaty teammates and the score of 101-100 for Seirin._

_And Tetsu suddenly remembered something, "Wait, Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun. You said you knew each other before?"_

* * *

 

_Aomine's eyebrow twitched every time a passerby peered at Kagami's goddamned plate of burger's paradise with awe. The plate consisted of actually more than twenty five burgers -even more than last time- in total, and Aomine felt lucky that Kagami had taken his own wallet._

_The pair of them had explained to Kuroko the story about their meeting from their different perspective, while obviously leaving out the flirting part -for which both of them admitted silently that they did flirt- and the part where Aomine kissed him. Tetsu proved to be a good audience, listening quietly, without a word or any sort of interruption as he sipped on his vanilla shake. But some details were just too hard to be left out, and soon, Kuroko noticed that some things were missing here and there._

_And because of Kagami's big mouth, the 'secret' finally came out that he had KUROKO-I-SAID-ONLY-A-LITTLE found Aomine attractive, thus had accepted Aomine's offer to eat at Maji's._

_"I told you that It. Was. Only. A. Little," Kagami said while blushing furiously and waving both his arms back and forth, almost knocking someone else's drink. ,Then he precisely showed Kuroko 'how little' with a gesture of his hand, index and thumb almost touching._

_Aomine was dumbstruck by the scene and he caught himself staring at Kagami, red face and all. Aomine stifled a laugh when he saw a very cute Kagami trying to chew with puffy cheeks while frantically explaining to Kuroko that finding someone good-looking didn't mean 'liking' that person. He was like an angry chipmunk._

_No._

_He did not just think that Kagami -almost 190cm Kagami- was cute. It was the chipmunk part._

_Yes, only the chipmunk._

_Aomine shook his head as if to clear it from having thoughts about Kagami that you were not supposed to have on a table and kept on munching on his burger. It seemed that Tetsu was the only one who noticed the faintest colour of red dusting his cheeks._

_When Aomine excused himself for a bathroom break, he could hear Tetsu making fun of Kagami and Kgami responding by trying to shut him up. Was it true that Kagami liked him? Was it true that he found Almine attractive? Why was the possibility of it being true making Aomine nervous?_

_Nothing ever made him nervous. Not nervous enough to ask for a bathroom break when he didn't need one._

_Though he knew what he needed._

_He needed to get stronger._

_He had a rival._

_A rival whose raw talents were still blossoming, like Aomine's were when he was in middle school. But even though his talents were unpolished, they had already beaten him once. And Tetsu only assured of that. Aomine needed to be stronger._

_Suddenly, Aomine noticed that he was thinking, that he was planning a future, a_ life _._

_His._

_It was the first time. The first time that he felt that this world still had something left for him to continue living for. That this already broken world still had the faintest colours in things that were permanently tainted in black and white._

_And with this, the remaining hope that was left inside his chest came to life alongside his rapidly beating heart._

 

* * *

  

_He came back to the table only to find Kagami pouting with his head turned towards the glass window, ignoring Kuroko who had a small smile plastered across his face, and Kuroko chewing absent-mindedly on his milkshake's straw. Aomine was thinking that Tetsu had to be very pleased, because he normally doesn't smile unless something extraordinary happened. Or he just didn't smile at all. Aomine curiously glanced from Kagami to Kuroko, egging them on for an explanation, but neither of them said anything. Kagami was still staring at the stupid window with cheeks so red that they seemed on fire while Kuroko was chewing on his straw, his beloved milkshake empty._

_Aomine sighed, abandoning his efforts to break Kagami's s_ _tubbornness and Tetsu's teasing, and sat in his seat, next to Kagami._

_His shoulder accidentally brushed Kagami's, and only caused his blush to intensify and spread to his ears._

_" **Stop that**!" Kagami's whisper only confused Aomine. Stop what?_

_He voiced his thoughts while whispering for some unknown reason and Kagami replied with a " **Y-your shoulder... Stop hitting me with your shoulder**!"_

_" **What the heck, Kagami? I never hit you with my shoulder**!" _

_"Aomine-kun, Kagami-kun, you guys surely know that I can hear you loud and clear, right?" Kuroko, who was feeling bored of watching them bicker, finally made his appearance. **Between them**. _

_"Kuroko, what the heck?!"_

_"I would like to go to the restroom as well," Kuroko said, ignoring their protests of how he always scaring the shit out of them and one day some old people will have a heart attack because of his misdirection, and stood up to go to the men's room, leaving Kagami with Aomine._

_Aomine couldn't help but wonder if Kuroko did this on purpose, or if he just thought too much about everything._ _Now a very embarrassed Kagami was fidgeting in front of him eyes glancing nervously around, hoping for a topic to talk about. Aomine felt like being a little mean, so he patiently waited for Kagami to find one by himself._

_In the end, Kagami resigned and ended up saying, "Haha..um, I guess I never really introduced myself, did I? Kind of forgot after you -ahem- kissed me that day..."_

_Aomine's eyebrow shot up, then he smirked and decided to play along, "No, you didn't."_

_Suddenly, as if the mere act of responding_   _made Kagami feel better, his huge grin made its appearance and he offered his hand, "Right. I'm Kagami Taiga."_

_"Daiki," Aomine took his hand and they shook, a small smile stretching on the corner of his lips, "Aomine Daiki."_

_They stared at each other for a second, taking in the other's attractive features and mutually eyeing each other before Aomine scratched the back of his neck and suddenly turned a bit red. He opened his mouth, the hesitated before saying,_ _"And, um, that time, I didn't know you were Tetsu's friend so I-"_

_"No, it's totally fine-"_

_"I'm sorry if-"_

_They both paused and waited for the other to continue. Then when nobody said anything else, they burst out laughing. This was too weird._

_It was like talking to yourself._ _The thoughts they shared clashed together like fire, the burning embers hot and fiery like dual-coloured flames. One an electrifying blue, the other a flaming red._

_"But I just wanted you to know that I don't hit on my friend's friends so... yeah." Aomine finished, his cheeks already past the point of boiling._

_Kagami smiled and nodded._

_"So are you guys past awkward now? Or should I stay in the bathroom for the next few minutes until you get all comfy and start chatting about your life's story?" Kuroko's voice resonated from behind, but this time, they only flinched. Kuroko raised his eyebrows._

_"Tetsu, you seriously should have stayed in that bathroom." Aomine said grumpily._

_"Really? then I'll just-"_

 

* * *

 

_They ended up bickering until the sky got dark._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if it wasn't what you were all expecting..... :(  
> BUT IF YOU LIKED IT I LIKE YOU 2!!! XD


	6. These shattered bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine invites Kagami to go play one-on-one in a basketball court near Maji's.  
> And he also invites himself over to Kagami's apartment.  
> (Note: he invites himself)
> 
>  
> 
> And thus starts the short bromance that won't last long cuz Aomine ain't a patient bastard, and that will soon turn into a bromance without the 'b'.  
> Maybe.  
> (BUT NAWT IN THIS CHAPTER AHAHAHAH)

Kagami's **POV of the past**

 

_Beep-beep-beep..._

 

**_-3:12 kagaamiiiiii_ **

**_-No reply_ **

**_-3:12 KAGAMI_ **

**_-No reply_ **

**_-3:14 BASTARD WAKE UP_ **

 

_With a fumbling hand, Kagami took out his phone and blinked at the blinding light coming out of the screen when he opened to check his messages. The loud beeping noise it made every time someone sent something made it impossible to sleep, and Kagami stopped trying to when it beeped for something like the twelfth time. As he wearily opened his phone, his tired eyes glanced at the alarm clock, wondering what time it was, and he grunted something unintelligible when the clock clearly showed **3:15**. With one hand, he typed something without looking at the screen, trying to protect his eyes and sent it, trusting his phone for spelling mistakes. _

_But it seemed as if even his phone was exhausted of correcting his typos and just let him be._

_Whatever, Aomine's were as bad as his._

 

**_-3:15 WATS UR PROB DUDE ITS 3 IN THE MORNIN'_ **

**_-3:15 im bored_ **

**_-3:15 I'm goin' bak to sleep_ **

 

 _Kagami sighed loudly as he turned off his phone, even though no Ahomine was there to hear his complaints. You could say that he was in a_ very _bad mood as he felt his phone vibrate and ended up covering his ears. Well, who wouldn't be if they were woken up in 3AM in the morning without any sort of explanation except for an 'im bored'? Plus he had homework due tomorrow and he was sure that Kuroko wouldn't let him copy his._ _Sometimes, that devil could be totally cold-blooded. He often wondered how Kuroko dealt with Aomine, but he never asked. Or forgot to._

 

**_-3:16 if you dont tex in the next 2 mins, im calling_ **

 

 _Kagami didn't even bother to look at his phone, so when it rang, he nearly fell out of his bed and_ _ended up dropping it on the floor. He rubbed his eyes, intending to make them stay open by force, and peered at his screen, narrowing them into slits._ _Then he reluctantly pressed 'answer' when he saw who the caller was._

_"Bastard," he growled in the speaker, " You're lucky my phone didn't break."_

_Just to make sure, he double-checked. No cracks. No gaps. No broken screen. Good._

_" **Well, I warned you that I would call.** " came Aomine's reply from the other end, his voice hushed, as if he was sneaking around, trying to do something he was not supposed to do. Well, it wasn't Kagami's business anyway, so he didn't ask._

_"How was I supposed to know when I said I was going to sleep and didn't check my messages after that?"_

_" **Oh, right. Well, I didn't think of that.** "_

_"..." Kagami had the constant feeling of wanting to punch Aomine. But he'll reserve that for his face when he sees him next time. His wall wasn't worth it._

_" **So. What about tomorrow at 4:00?** "_

_"..._ What _about tomorrow at 4:00?"_

 

One the other line...

_Aomine rolled his eyes as he stared at his phone's screen. Kagami couldn't be thicker than this. Man, every time he talked to Kagami, he always found himself grinning so hard it hurt after. He could be really stupid sometimes, but Aomine did not really notice that he was describing himself as well. So they always ended up fighting over the smallest things, then mutually feeling bad about it and forgive each other._

 

_" **One-on-one. What else, stupid.** "_

_"Who's stupid, idiot?"_

_" **You.** "_

_"Takes one to know one."_

_" **Bakagami.** "_

_"Ahomine."_

_" **You're an a** **sshole.** "_ _  
_

_"Love you, too."_

 

_And Kagami hung up without waiting for an answer._

_Even though he was unceremoniously woken up by beeping noises in 3AM in the morning of a day that screamed 'detention for neglecting homework, mister Kagami' with his teacher's strict voice, he still felt lighter than before. He didn't know, or didn't dare to admit it to himself, that their every day routine of texting only a few words, and nine out of ten of them were swear words, made him feel this way. He didn't dare to admit that it was probably all thanks to Aomine. Because their thinking were mostly alike, Aomine was the one person that truly understood his emotions sometimes. Even if he was a bastard, that same bastard was what made his day better when he failed an exam, was what made him laugh when he felt like crying. But Aomine didn't need to know that._ _  
_

_He didn't need to know that at all._

 

* * *

 

Aomine's **POV of the past**

 

_The ball rolled on the rim and fell inside. It was a close shot._

_It seemed like Kagami had been practicing Aomine's formless shoots. And he's been getting better at it._

_Aomine was seriously impressed by how much he was trying, and felt that he needed to catch up himself. It has been a really long time since he felt this way, even Momoi thought that something was off about him since their match against Seirin. In her words, he didn't seem like himself. But for Aomine, he_ was _like himself. Not the one he was a few months ago, but the Aomine Daiki he was when they were all in middle school. Still energetic. Still cheerful. Still ready to play._

_Still there._

_Somewhere inside him, hiding in the depts of his memories, starting to slowly resurface ever since Kagami beat him. Though Aomine wasn't sure if he was happy about it. Because of years of acting and thinking arrogantly as if he were the god of this world, Aomine didn't know if anything would stay the same if he were to change into his former self._ _What if everything that made Aomine the Aomine he is today was erased? What if everything he believed in for these past years were all to disappear? What if...Aomine can't play basketball the same way ever again? And if all the doubts swirling in his head was true, Aomine wouldn't even remember who he was now, but instead always be the pure boy he was before, the boy who had loved basketball all his life._

 _It was as if he was two Aomine at the same time, the one from Teikou, and the one now. They were both struggling for control over the other, and sometimes the decisions Aomine made were not the ones he would have made if he were himself. Sometimes, they were the decisions of another. He suppose that this was what Akashi felt when his nastier side didn't completely take over the other._ _  
_

_"Aho," someone's voice was calling him. Who was it? Aomine felt like he was in a trance, and maybe he was. "You're late."_

_"Yo, you still there?" Slowly, the blurred lines that were moving in front of his face described themselves as Kagami, and his mind cleared._

_"Um, yeah." he said, shaking his head. "Kagami, ready to get your ass beaten?"_

_"If you're still standing when I'm done with you." came the reply from the other side of the court. Kagami was already sweating, probably from the fact that he was training before Aomine came, but the light in his eyes didn't seem to dull even one bit from the first time that Aomine had met him. His eyes were ablaze, with excitement and energy. And when Aomine took a good look at him, he could almost feel his strong muscles writhing beneath that soft skin. He himself wasn't that bored, at least not right now._

_And, like the childish boy he still was inside, his felt the beating of his heart rapidly increasing as adrenaline coursed through his veins; it felt exhilarating._

_With a flash of red and the swish of his feet on the ground, Kagami matched Aomine's speed and their movements blended together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces designed to be together from the start. Every time one of them intended to score, their was more than a 93% chance that the other would block it. Aomine felt free; it felt as if chains had been shackled to his wrists, as if a huge boulder had been placed upon his shoulders when he had to restrain his immense power. But with Kagami, all of that could be unleashed without the fear of completely crushing him. Kagami, as he very well noticed, was strong. He was strong enough. And with a huge grin lighting up his face every time he scored and a challenging smirk every time Aomine did, he was willing to share the burden Aomine had been carrying all these years._

_Winning made the tiger proud, practice made his movements precise, and defeat only made him stronger._

_Aomine was the same._

_The aura they shared was the same, the tension in the air had nothing depressing in it. Everything they did was a challenge. A dare._

_And the game ended with Aomine scoring the last point, when they realized how late it had gotten._

_"That wasn't fair!"_

_"What wasn't? I won, you didn't." Aomine said teasingly. He didn't know that the idiot would be counting on that.  
_

_"..." Kagami opened his mount, but refrained from saying anything. It wasn't worth racking his exhausted brains to insult someone like Aomine. And maybe Aomine guessed their shared exhaustion, because he didn't add anything after that._

_"Hey, Bakagami, what are you doing after?" he asked instead._

_"It's over eight, what do you expect me to do?" he said, not meaning for it to sound defensive, but blaming Aomine and glaring at him for something neither of them could control anyway. Time, that is. "Oh, right. I almost forgot. I_ still _have to do my homework."_ _Aomine almost would've asked **what** homework, but decided against it, then said: "You know what? I'm coming over."_

_"The hell, Aho?! You can't just- you don't- hey, wait up!," Kagami chased after Aomine as he ran past him in the direction of Kagami's apartment, "How do you even know where I live?!'_

_"I asked Tetsu." As if it was the most obvious explanation in the world._

 

* * *

 

_"Can you stop that?" Kagami's voice resonated inside the room, filled with annoyance and naturally directed at Aomine, who was sitting innocently in front of his huge TV with a twelve bag of potato chips in his arms and a magazine pile, featuring Mai-chan, in front of him, looking like a hybrid of both Murasakibara and Aomine. Aomine forced himself to glance at Kagami, just for a few mere seconds, before resuming what he was doing, watching TV while reading magazines and eating chips._

_"What?"_

_The 'what' Kagami was refereeing to was clearly Aomine's extraordinary habit of making sounds even when he was not talking. There was a mix of noise coming from where Aomine sat, crunching noise, foot-stomping noises, finger-tapping-against-wooden-table noises, tongue-clicking noises and various noises and disturbance without proper names. Plus, the TV was on, so the actress in the drama movie with her accidentally-spilled-coffee-on-some-hot-guy scene did nothing to ease Kagami's nervousness while composing his essay. Kagami was trying to concentrate on his own homework, and Aomine was certainly doing a good job to distract him._

_"Urgh, never mind." Kagami said, pushing himself off of his chair and stacking his homework pile to the side, "You know what? I give up. This is useless."_

_"Of course it is." Aomine responded, "I never bothered."_

_"And that's why you're stuck with C- or D+." Kagami snorted and made a dramatic movement with his hands, "Oh, if_ everyone _knew that the great Aomine Daiki had failed his english tests because **he never bothered**. Or that he's just pervert with a big boob obsession."_

_"Shut up, it's not my fault I suck at english. How come you're so good at it?" he then threw an unopened potato chips bag at Kagami, who cleverly dodged while facing the other side, his back to Aomine. The sight was so hilarious, it was as if he knew exactly what Aomine's reaction would be and what he would do, meaning throwing potato chips bag at a person when he's displeased. Aomine pouted for missing his target and continued to eat the unfinished bag._

_"By the way, if you're so against big boobs, how come your girlfriend got doubles D's?" Aomine said._

_" **Who**?"_

_"That Amy-something chick," he gruffly responded. Was it jealousy that Kagami heard in his voice? Was the bastard possibly jealous of him? Did he like Alex? Kagami suddenly felt a surge of emotion that he did not understand. In the end, he classified the unknown emotions as 'protectiveness' towards his former teacher. and as 'friendliness' towards Aomine for the warning he was about to give._

_"Alex? Don't get close to her," Kagami said, not intending any ill, "That girl is a kissing demon."_

_Aomine seemed to have misunderstood this as: Don't touch her, she's mine._

_"Rest reassured," he said, "I won't do anything." His voice suddenly filled with anger. A lot more anger than he was expecting to have. He didn't know why he was angry, but he was angry at Kagami. Even though he may seem like an idiot sometimes, he_ _was slightly quicker to judge his own emotions compared to Kagami. And he knew that the vibrant green that he momentarily saw was jealousy. Ugly, mean, jealousy. Not jealousy towards Kagami, no. Aomine didn't know why he was jealous, but it didn't feel good. And the voice inside his head clearly screamed 'mine, mine,_ mine _!'. He felt uneasy, because he knew that something happened to make him feel this way, and he wasn't sure if he would like that something._

 _And Kagami misunderstood, too. Of course he would, considering how thick-headed he could be most of the time. He was sure that Aomine was angry at him because he though that_ Kagami _liked Alex, something that will never happen. In Kagami's mind, she would most likely be an annoying mother hen rather than his girlfriend._

_"I was only saying that she's not-"  
_

_"I'd rather have **her** than someone like Satsuki!"_

_"Fine, but I was only warning you. Do what you want!" Kagami nearly shouted than stormed off, fuming. And the door clacked behind him, hiding his frustrated face inside his bedroom._

_And Aomine, only getting angrier by Kagami's words, left._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter'll be related to this one...and will say how they make up after the fight...but no sex yet.  
> Maybe sex like after three more chapters!!!


	7. When Nothing changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine is alone. In his house. Trying to masturbate while looking at Mai-chan. It doesn't work.  
> He has texted Tetsu, he has texted Satsuki and he even asked Kise and Midorima (and that's rare).
> 
> It's the first time that it doesn't work.

**_'Hahaha! That was a good joke, Aominecchi! :) Can I share it to my friends?'_ **

**_'DAI-CHAN. WHY. ARE. YOU. NOT. AT. PRACTICE.'_ **

**_'Aomine, I believe Takao knows more about terms like 'masturbation' and 'hard-on' than me.'_ **

_And the worst one was:_

**_'Aomine-kun, I showed your text to Kagami-kun.'_ **

 

* * *

 

_Aomine was alone. In his house. Trying to masturbate while looking at Mai-chan. It wasn't working._

_He had texted Tetsu, he had texted Kise and Midorima and even Satsuki for a solution to his very endearing problem. It was the first time that it didn't work._

_He had, of course, thought about every possibility there was, had searched every dirty corners on the internet for an answer and a solution, had asked everyone around him, except for Akashi. Nothing that he found could explain why he couldn't get hard. The internet suggested him to use stuffs that he wouldn't dare say in front of someone, the mere thought that maybe he was impotent made him shudder and shake his head almost immediately, and everyone else just assumed that Aomine was joking. And he probably would've laughed with them._

_If it was really a joke._

_Then, something made him think: Why not ask Kagami? Oh, right. That asshole was still mad at Aomine. And Aomine was still mad at him._

_Except that he wasn't. Not anymore._

_After Kagami and him had that fight and Aomine went home, Aomine realized that he had already forgiven him when he opened the door to his house. But he continued to pretend that he was angry because he_ was _angry, but not at Kagami. He was angry at himself for not being able to be angry at Kagami. Tetsu already knew about their argument ten minutes after it ended -Aomine didn't even bother to ask why- and texted Aomine to make up with Kagami as quickly as possible, because their idiotic habitude to act before they think was not worth the end of their friendship. Aomine replied with a 'Shut up Tetsu' and refused to check his messages after that. Though he knew that Tetsu was right._

_Everything that Tetsu said was right._

_Him being a stubborn bastard. Kagami being an equally stubborn bastard. Him being a jerk. Kagami being an idiot._

_And the worst thing was that, when he discovered that he was possibly becoming the 'i' word -impotent- and asked Tetsu about it, Tetsu replied with a nonchalant 'I showed your text to Kagami-kun'._

_He was in deep shit._

_Tetsu could not have guessed how much agony that simple sentence he typed had neutralized Aomine at that moment. His whole body froze as his eyes tried to stare something out of the blinking screen. His mouth formed an 'O' and his phone slipped out of his hand, bouncing on his bed. Then he had bellowed an awful sound -seemingly like a dying whale- and almost scratched his hair out from the top of his head and making his mom yell 'did your girlfriend finally ditch you' from the living room, and the worst thing was, he didn't even have a girlfriend! The last person on the world that he would've liked to know his problem knew two minutes after he had first discovered it._

_Aomine always had this really weird feeling that wanted Kagami to forgive him, but he also had this natural instinct in him that said to wait, and let Kagami come to him. This usually worked, because everyone just knew how Aomine worked and didn't have that much ego anyways. But not Kagami._

_Never Kagami._

_That guy had too much ego to apologize first._

 

* * *

 

 _He didn't know when his brain decided for him to walk in front of Kagami's window, but he found himself staring at it exactly fifteen minutes later after he had received Tetsu's text. Aomine was ready to shave himself bald at this point._ _Why did he come here? Why didn't he choose another place? Why could he not keep Kagami out of his mind? Why not wait quietly at his house, not caring about anyone's opinion about himself?_

_He suddenly realized his own answer: Because he no one's opinion mattered, except Kagami's._

_And why? He didn't know._

_And now he was stuck outside Kagami's apartment, with nothing to do, and not daring to knock on Kagami's door for fear of damaging his pride._

_He decided to walk around. He bought Mai-chan's latest. He drank a bottle of energy drink. He walked around some more. After what felt like two hours of doing nothing, he ended up at the usual basketball court near Maji, where he and Kagami would've played one-on-one, if he wasn't so stubborn. Aomine really didn't know why he came here, or what his brain wanted for him to do, but it seemed like it was the best place to be at 9:46 at night._

_The thing was, when he entered the court, someone else was already there._

_"Aomine?"_

_He turned around. Kagami._

_"What do you want?" was probably not the best apology if Aomine really thought about it._

_Kagami opened his mouth, and no sound came from it. Then it seemed like everything he wanted to say just burst._

_"' **What do I want?'** Aomine, I **want** nothing from you. I **wanted** to apologize! And now I see that you've just been happily living like nothing was wrong, like you don't even care. Bastard, after weeks and weeks of doing nothing but planning what kind of apology I should come up with for you to forgive me, you're here asking me 'what do I want' when I finally see you again?! Well, I'm sorry, but I just can't see you as anything other than a jerk. And I had thought we were past this, that maybe one fight wasn't enough to break what we had." Kagami was practically screaming by now, screeching in a high-pitched voice. Then his tone suddenly lowered, and Aomine could feel the beast inside Kagami growling in fury, "I was thinking maybe I should've just left you alone, you know."_

_Aomine was left speechless. He didn't know how to reply._

_This didn't happen with Tetsu, because he knew Aomine's stubbornness too much to argue with him._

_This didn't happen with Satsuki, because she knew Aomine's selfishness too much to **really** be angry at him._

_This didn't happen with Kise, because he was too forgiving, too whiny to care about little things._

_This didn't happen with Midorima, because he never cared enough to yell at his faults._

_This didn't happen with Murasakibara, because he never cared about what was going on in Aomine's life._

_This didn't happen with Akashi, because he only cared about their basketball talents, and nothing else._

 

_This only happened with Kagami, because he was Aomine's rival as well as he was Aomine's friend._

_And he cared._

_"Kagami, I, uh..." Aomine still didn't know what was going on in his brain. It was as if it had stopped working. Completely. And that all that was left was the sound of his own voice echoing inside an empty shell that was devoid of life. He didn't know what to say, what do to with his hands, what to think in his head. Kagami was staring at him without saying a word, probably waiting for him to say something, something that could break this twisted feeling that was eating him from the inside. This feeling that made him feel guilty when he looked at Kagami, that made him want to run up to him and hug him or something._

_His tongue felt numb. His back felt sweaty. His neck felt cold. His cheek was warm. Wet and warm._

_What was happening to him?_

_Then Kagami's voice reached him again._

_"Are...are you crying?" Kagami's slightly hesitant voice felt far away, as if he were on land, and Aomine was at the bottom of a very, very deep ocean. He touched his own cheek._

_No, those are not tears. Aomine refused to believe that they were tears. Those are the drops of water from where he was kept, deep inside the ocean, chained to the sand, prisoner to the sea. Kagami had freed him. Kagami had freed the little boy that had been engulfed inside when he was still at Teikou, when he discovered the monster he was. He was the first to show that he cared, and the first to show that he wanted to care._

_"No," he quickly wiped away the wet feeling on his skin. Then he blinked once, twice._

_"I-I'm sorry." Aomine's voice was trembling slightly. This was maybe his first apology ever._

_Not once did **he** ever apologize. Not once did he let down his pride for someone else. Not once did he, Aomine Daiki, ever feel something like this for someone else. Kagami Taiga was more than a rival, more than a friend. But what was he exactly for Aomine? He didn't know._

_"You are?" the surprise was evident in Kagami's tone as his eyes widened. And when Aomine didn't say anything, they softened. Then a small grin appeared on Kagami's face, quickly disappearing after and turning itself into an arrogant smirk._

_"For what?" Kagami's pupils narrowed, and a glint of naughtiness filled the red orbs in his eyes. He then cocked his head to the left, and Aomine suddenly felt very stupid._

_"If you don't know then I won't repeat it," Aomine turned his head away. This was too embarrassing._

_"For what?"_

_"Nothing."_

_"Ne, Dai-ki~ Tell me~" W-what the heck? When did Kagami learn these tricks? How could -how dare he say Aomine's name like that?_

_Aomine's face turned beet red and he blushed furiously, his cheeks on fire._

_"OH MY GOD, you should've **seen** your face, Aho! AHAHAHAHA!" Kagami rolled to the side and his hands caught his stomach. That stupid grin of his made his whole face brighter, and Aomine was happy that Kagami was finally laughing, but his laughs and teases only made Aomine blush harder, and he sat on the bench, refusing to look at Kagami in the face, "Say, Aho, are you actually pouting?"_

_"So what if I am?" Aomine didn't dare to look at where Kagami was, but from the sound of his continued laughs, he was getting nearer._

_"Aw, Dai-chan, I'm sorry if I offended you," Kagami's voice was now as if he was right behind him, and the taunting baby voice lowered until it became rich. Suave. Seductive._

_"Will this make it better?" The unusually sexy voice made Aomine shudder in anticipation when Kagami's breath came upon his ear, and he shivered when he felt the other's hands trail across his shoulder and lace themselves until they were interlocked in front of Aomine's chest. Kagami's deep chuckle made his back sweat when it vibrated through his own chest. Kagami was hugging him! From behind!_

_How he wished that the bastard's hands couldn't feel his rapidly beating heart! But maybe he showed his nervousness, and made Kagami feel it, too._

_Kagami quickly let him go and cleared his throat uncomfortably, "I -ahem- I think I better go. It's kind of late."_

_"Uh, yeah, right." Aomine turned to face him, and he smiled hesitantly. Kagami's face stunned when he saw the small smile stretched on Aomine's lips. It made his youth, his childishness appear. It felt like Kagami was staring at Aomine when he was a little boy. The only thing that was missing was that silly, toothy grin that small, middle-school Aomine would make every time something pleased him, every time he won another match._

_Kagami returned his smile with another grin._

_"See you, Aho!" he stuck out his tongue and waved his hand towards Aomine as he ran backwards. Then he turned around and disappeared into the night without waiting for Aomine's reply._ _Aomine watched as Kagami's form slowly became smaller and smaller, and he, too, turned around, facing the way that led to his house._

_"See you, Taiga," he whispered, not to Kagami, but to himself._

_Aomine knew that nothing had ended between them. Knew that their friendship had only started. Knew that there were still lots of things they were both denying._ _  
_

_Whatever, he'll face every tomorrow that'll come._

_And, hopefully, Kagami could help him, whether in basketball, or simply just by being there._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, the start was weird. Well, who am I kidding, I'M weird.  
> Eh...
> 
> THX 4 leaving comments and reading!!! (If u did)  
> XD XD XD


	8. Something We never Were ( I )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami got drunk at Kise's party.  
> Aomine's self-control is lacking.  
> And something happens that made their friendship fall apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, i was kind of using my other fan-fic, Dare x Dare to write this down, but it's not a series so...eheheh.  
> BTW, check it out, I think it's like the only work I'm really proud of (except this one).  
> hehe~
> 
> And hum, I'm really sorry I know I said that chappie 8 would be like the smutty chappie but then i realized that there were too much words and that i dont wanna give an idea to readers that my chap pies would be longer so ill try to finish chappie 9 (smutty chappie) and update tomorrow!!!
> 
> I'm so so sorry....pls forgive me.....T-T  
> but enjoy! XD

_"Satsuki, did I really have to come?" Aomine was currently standing in front of Kise's 'humble', three stories high, mansion-like and pool-floored house, his voice muffled by the scarf he was wearing, looking bored enough to throw pizzas at random strangers (though he didn't have a reason to). This party was maybe the third one he ever went to, considering his mother's protectiveness of strange girls and his father's strictness about exam times and his own laziness to move two feet away from his bed. When he thought about it, the fact that he went to two other parties was all thanks to Satsuki, including this one._

_You could call him lazy, or just entirely anti-social. And his laziness had only increased since his coach from Teikou had said: You don't need to train, Aomine._

_That simple sentence was what broke him, then. But now he feels that, although slowly, the shattered pieces of him are gradually assembling themselves together, one by one, and the little Aomine Daiki that seemed dead inside of him is no longer asleep, sometimes making his appearance when Aomine smiled, when Aomine played. And Aomine was sure that his once damaged soul had been awakened by something._

_By **someone**._

_Aomine wasn't sure of the details of why he was invited, but this party_ could _be name 'a successful model-shoot_ _after party' or 'Kise-being-Kise-and-throwing-random-parties-when-the-exams-are-seven-days-away'. But anyhow, Aomine was_ not _looking forward to it. Not at all._

_And it was as if the world was against him, because not only did he fail his latest english test -again-, he failed to escape from Satsuki and unwillingly ended up in front of Kise's house._

_"For the millionth time,_ _**yes** , Dai-chan, this is important for Kise," Satsuki sighed as she went into position behind him and began to push a grumpy Aomine towards the doors._

_Satsuki, after thirty minutes of trying to catch Aomine and making him stand still in front of Kise's doors by pinching his left ear, rang the doorbell. And when it opened, they nearly stumbled in the doorway, a pair of hands grabbing them from the inside._

_"Aominecchi! Momoicchi! Finally, I was starting to think that you guys wouldn't come!" the voice was immediately recognized as Kise's, and Aomine was already thinking about how to sneak out without letting Satsuki or Kise know that he left. He shook his head unconsciously. The mere idea of_ Kise _or_ Satsuki _not noticing something was ridiculous, and Aomine had long ago confirmed of it when he had tried to slip away before. Then he felt a tap near his arm. He turned abruptly to see a cute puppy near his face._

_"Nigou wanted to come." was the only explanation that Tetsu had given for Aomine's ridiculously shocked expression mixed between laughter and horror at seeing his former shadow's face almost completely covered by a 3D puppy._

_Nigou barked, and Aomine petted his head, ruffling his ears._

_**I'm sorry you had to come** , he thought, but maybe Nigou wanted to come. Maybe someone else's could understand dog language. Maybe he just thought differently than everyone else. Maybe how he sees the world isn't how everyone else sees it._

_He'll never know._

 

* * *

 

_Kise, who was slightly drunk ten minutes after all his guest had arrived -namely being models, coworkers, photographers, journalists, assistants and their Teikou teammates- had cast a vote for Game of the Night -meaning a game that they would play until everyone else was drunk as well- and thus, they had begun to play a round of 'Spin the Bottle'. Lost of people seemed to have thought that the game was too common, and wanted to change, but Kise, as the main character, had lead them to finish it before playing another._

_And, of course, Aomine had been dragged in without his consent._

_He learned to never underestimate Tetsu's coach as he was brutally hit two times in the stomach by Riko. She literally_ picked him up _and put him down on the floor when he refused to go there by himself. Then, before long, every boy who was unwilling to participate was thrown inside the circle of beaten up boys, joining the crew._

 _"Ne, Riko-chan, it'll be more fun if_ _the boys were the_ only ones _playing, wouldn't it?" someone said from the group of giggling girls standing, forming a crowd of too-short cocktail dresses and over-done hairstyles._

_Satsuki and Riko both nodded, and seemed almost surprise to be thinking of the same thing._

_"Yup, and the person pointed by the bottle will have to kiss the person who spun it! Even if they are both -ahem- male!" Satsuki's enthusiasm was seriously starting to scare Aomine, because the malicious glint in her eyes seemed to indicate that, this time, she was serious. And the cheers made by the girly crowd was supporting her decision._

_The boys around him were flustered, but most of them were already drunk enough to not mind, or just simply gave up resisting the devils dressed in pretty clothes and wearing perfume. But...they were boys! Almost all over 170cm, sweaty, high schools boys! It's not really that he minded, because when Aomine thought about it, he did hook up with at least two guys in his life, he just preferred girls. He wasn't necessarily bi, but close enough._

_"This is so annoying," Aomine got up, and went towards the door, "Kise, I'm using your bathroom."_

_"Ahomine, don't you dare run away, you bastard," he had heard the growl from behind before he could've escape to the bathroom. A flushed and drunk Kagami was staring at him, stomping across the floor and bumping into someone before he reached Aomine. Maybe it was because the night had been so wild, or because the quantities of double D's were overwhelming, or simply because Aomine doesn't normally notice anything that's two meters away from him, but he didn't realize that Kagami would be here. And when his eyes saw the flaming red hair with black ends and the weirdly cute eyebrows frowning, his heart couldn't help but leapt at the familiar sight. Though his words couldn't express how happy he was at seeing the tiger._

_"I'm not running, idiot." he said, the tone slightly more harsh than his heart wanted them to be, "I'm simply not interested."_

_"Toughen up, Aho." How could Kagami be okay with kissing a dude in front of everyone? But when Aomine thought about it, he did kiss Kagami on the first day they met, in a very crowded restaurant, but that was for fun. He didn't know if he would_ really _meet him again. And by looking at his face now, Kagami was dead drunk._

_"No need to if the game's boring."_

_"Or are you too chicken to play?" came the retort, and Aomine felt himself being lured in by the feeling of wanting to say..._

_"Of course not, Baka! I'm even going to spin it **first**!" There. He said it._

_And Aomine realized only a second too late that he just sealed his fate to destiny._

  

_Aomine thought that he'll just spin the bottle and be done with it. Simple._

_It's only a kiss after all._

_He received said bottle from Kise, who took a plastic one (for safety purposes, he said, I learned to always use something unbreakable if drunk people are handling it), and spun it with his fingertips, praying for it to land on someone he didn't know, so that he could leave without embarrassement. And his wish was excusable, because there were in fact loads of people he didn't know, but it seems destiny really had took control over his life and landed on Himuro._

_Well, it didn't matter anyways. He didn't even know him that well._

_But wait. Wasn't Himuro Kagami's childhood friend? Wasn't he very close to Kagami? What if Aomine couldn't kiss well, and Himuro told Kagami about it? A million questions were now forming inside his mind as he really thought about the idea of kissing a dude_ he knew _._

_As his mind was pacing furiously, thinking about all the possibilities, he didn't notice that Himuro was already approaching him impatiently, looking bored._

_Then he was yanked forward and his lips met something soft and warm._

_Girly cheers could be heard from the back, and Aomine knew that Satsuki was surely taking photos to memorize this event because it was oh-so-rare to see two boys kissing each other._

_His eyes met Himuro's, yet he felt nothing. Not really disgusted, since Himuro resembled something of a boyish girl that he had once hooked up with, but nothing else either. It wasn't like when he had kissed Kagami. The electricity, the heat, the fire inside those animalistic red orbs._

_The want._

_Then something naughty slipped inside his mouth._

_"Mmmph!" his protest was swallowed inside his mouth. His hands shuffling between them as he pushed Himuro and broke their kiss. The sensation of another's tongue touching his own was mildy unpleasant and reminded him of the clingy girls on his waist, of the fake, high-pitched moans they would make when Aomine thrust inside them. It had been some time since he last went to a bar; last time he was invited, he didn't feel the need to go. Last time he was invited, he chose to treasure more the time he and Kagami played one-on-one than his habit of seeking pleasure by using someone._

_Himuro let go. His lips formed a challenging smirk and he mumbled something, so that no one but Aomine would hear, "I would've never given Taiga to you if you were even slightly hesitant."_

_Aomine frowned. What the heck was this guy saying?_

_Then as Himuro left, his head whipped towards Kagami and Aomine thought he saw an apologetic glance being directed towards the tiger. Aomine suddenly felt weirdly guilty._

_"Uh, since Himurocchi left, I think Kagamicchi should spin the bottle because he's next to him," Kise glanced at the circle who was now missing one spot to be complete, and decided to fill in he blank himself, "To be fair, I'll play!"_

_Kagami looked at the bottle that was given to him, and, for a second, Aomine thought that he saw Kagami glance hesitantly towards him, then he spun. He shook his head. It must have been his imagination. The legendary bottle spun more than five times before rolling off course and landing very near Tetsu, pointing at Kise. The room was silent for a moment, not even the girls were making one sound. Then it seemed as if the room exploded. Normally, the girls would have been very protective as to who their angel-like Kise had to kiss, but this time, every one of them was buzzing with excitement, totally opposite to their normally jealous behaviour._

_Aomine's heart sank._

_A tingling feeling settled itself near Aomine's stomach, a feeling different from when he kissed Kagami, from when he ate at Maji's with him, from when he played with him. It was that same tingling feeling with the flash of green that he saw that time, when he and Kagami first fought. When he was jealous of Alex, because she was much closer to Kagami than him._

_Oh, so it's jealousy._

_It's jealousy he feels when he sees Kagami smile at someone else. It's jealousy he feels when he sees Kagami hug someone else. It's jealousy he feels when, just now, he saw Kise kissing Kagami._

_He was jealous of Kise. _  
__

_Aomine hated this part of him, this part of him that tells him to go up there and punch Kise, his friend and former teammate of two years, simply because he kissed Kagami._

 

* * *

_"Aomine-kun, I'm putting all my trust in you for taking Kagami home safely." Tetsu said, his facial expression quite serious while Aomine was busy trying to not let Kagami crush him under his full weight. C'mon, he was almost as tall as Aomine! Plus he was drunk, currently in between dozing off and being half-awake, neither really helping Aomine._

_"Sure," he said, his tone heavy with sarcasm, "I don't have much of a choice anyways."_

_"Nope, since you guys are going the same way, Kagamicchi is your responsibility!" Kise piped in cheerfully, then waved him goodbye. Aomine had been avoiding Kise all night, for fear of really being angry at him. He didn't bother to try to support Kagami with one hand, so he nodded towards their direction and walked -limped- away._

_"Aho..." Kagami mumbled in his near-sleeping state. Aomine looked at him and saw a small smile of his face, probably dreaming about something funny, "Are...you...really impotent?..."_

_Aomine stopped dead in his tracks. What the fuck? That bastard even dared to mock him in his sleep._

_If he wasn't drunk, Aomine would've ditched him in the streets right about now._

 

* * *

 

_It was a pain trying to ask Kagami where his apartment was inside the cab, seeing how he had quickly turned into a sleeping log, and Aomine had to call Tetsu five times to obtain his address because his former shadow was in the middle of a round of '7 minutes in heaven' with Satsuki, and his phone was confiscated because the game's rules didn't allow a cellphone inside the goddamned closet._

_He was preparing to leave after having heaved Kagami onto his bed, but he felt a sudden tug on his pants._

_"Aomine..."_

_He turned around._ _Kagami was staring at him with abnormally round eyes, the slight drool still sticking to his lips, making them glisten._

_Aomine couldn't say anything else than: "What? I'm leaving. You better be grateful in the morning."_

_He tried to move. The grip that Kagami had on his pants refused to budge._

_Kagami blinked rapidly and his other hand raised to rub at his eyes, "Hot...too hot."_

_Aomine's eyes stared at Kagami as the latter moved and struggled against his own clothes and began slowly removing them one by one. Aomine was completely paralyzed and he hadn't really understood what was happening until Kagami only had his pants and boxers left on him._

_"Wait, w-what are you doing?" he asked and tried to stop Kagami's hands._

_"Hot...Ungh..." Kagami blinked again as he twisted and turned to get out of Aomine's grip. He succeeded to yank his hands away and he kicked off his pants. Then Aomine realized why Kagami was feeling uncomfortably hot and wanted to take off his clothes; the wet bulge in his boxers told him all he needed to know. How could this idiot be that damn excited? And from his still flushed face, he was drunk. It was probably the alcohol and need to release. Aomine was at lost to what to do; he was never in a situation as weird as this. And the tingling feeling inside his stomach returned, but this time, the feeling made his heart beat faster. Harder._

_"Aomine...Please..." Kagami pleaded, but Aomine wasn't not sure what Kagami wanted from him. He just stood there, his face beet red to his ears. Probably unconsciously, Kagami's tongue skidded across his lips, licking off the drool and making his lips moisten even more, "Stay..."_

_Aomine's mind flashed red in warning. He didn't move, he didn't speak. He didn't, couldn't trust his voice anymore. Though he knew exactly what Kagami was doing -probably thanks to so many nights of wandering around at night bars and fooling around with more girls than he could count- his body and heart felt willing to do exactly what Kagami had asked, betraying his mind that told him that doing this is dangerous. That doing this will lead to something neither of them -especially Aomine- was prepared for. That doing this was forbidden. That doing this will probably make Kagami regret it._

_Aomine also knew that, by doing this, he would hurt them both, and if Kagami really regrets it, he couldn't bear to see Kagami's betrayed, disappointed expression, face contorted with fury and pain._

_No, that Aomine wouldn't do. Would never do. He would never purposefully hurt Kagami._

_Unfortunately, Kagami was never someone patient. His grip onto Aomine's pants suddenly tightened while Aomine was still in the middle of his thoughts, thinking about how to make Kagami let go, and he yanked him forward, making Aomine stumble and almost fall on Kagami, if his hands weren't fast or strong enough to catch the edge of the bed and support his weight. When Aomine really thought about it, it was like he was always thinking of escaping. Of running away. Of being unnoticed._

_Why?_

_Why was he always running away? And what was he running from?_

_Maybe it was time to stop running._

_To let go._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe, im sorry if it wasn't what u were expecting and feel free to leave comments or questions or suggestions or i donno...  
> THX 4 reading!!!!!  
> Chappie 9 will be up tomorrow morning/noon! or maybe like after tomorrow im so sorry.....!!!  
> Time is cruel!!  
> T-T


	9. Something We never Were ( II )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the next part. The night has just begun...  
> Get ready to see what happens when a drunk and excited Kagami is in the same room as a fully conscious Aomine that has lost self-control...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, it's up in the morning at 3:44 AM!!!  
> And again, if u guys are still angry, IM REALLY SORRYYY!!! But I couldn't finish it in two days so i just updated the first part first...and without the smut....  
> enjoy anyways~  
> PS. This author loves comments!!!

_"Aomine..."_

_Kagami's voice was echoing inside Aomine's head. It was nearly impossible to get it out, and the continued tugging that teary-faced Kagami made was starting to crush Aomine's self-control into pieces. Like Kagami, Aomine knew that he himself wasn't a patient person, and Kagami's hot breaths and the fact that he was still wearing nothing but an underwear were seriously making Aomine very turned on. Normally, he wasn't nearly this excited with a girl, and he didn't understand why he was like this_ now _, with a boy. With Kagami._

 _Kagami was his_ friend _. And from what Aomine could feel, his body understood that fact perfectly and still wanted it._

_To tell the truth, he's never done it with a guy before, so he wasn't really sure how to. The farthest that he went with one was until kissing stage, and that part was mostly an accident. So he was really scared of doing something that will hurt Kagami. Yet he still felt his resistance gradually crumbling down, like the pieces of a cage being tore apart by a force greater than himself. Like the pieces of the cage he built to control the monster inside him being tore apart, and letting him free. All of him._

_"Aomine..." Kagami tugged him again. Aomine resisted. Aomine felt Kagami's eyes boring through him, staring whole through Aomine, pleading him to do something that Aomine was scared of doing for fear of ruining what they had, of breaking the friendship they had built. He felt another tug, "K-kiss me..."_

_Aomine's eyes widened and he finally looked at Kagami. When he didn't move, the tiger's eyes watered, "You d-don't want...?"_

_And that was the final blow._

_His control completely shattered and his eyes shone with an almost animalistic lust, the electricity sizzling like fire between them._

_"I'm sorry, Kagami," his voice felt rough. But for some reason, he wasn't feeling sorry at all. Kagami's tugging stopped when Aomine gave up on struggling. He arched into Aomine's touch, his lips meeting Aomine's halfway through the air and Aomine suddenly felt very awake again, the sudden tightening of his pants confirming it. Kagami was such a tease, his lips touching Aomine's briefly and letting air get through, then sucking on the tip of his tongue, making Aomine crazy._

_Kagami's arms lingered on Aomine's shoulders, and when Aomine didn't do anything, they snaked around is back and locked themselves together, hugging him. This was the second time._

_The second time that Kagami had hugged him._

_The second time that Kagami had showed, even though he was doing it unconsciously, that he cared. That he was willing to accept Aomine for who he really was. That he accepted everything about him._

_**You really don't know what you're doing, do you?** Taiga._

_Aomine's hands fumbled to take off his shirt while Kagami's arms tightened, refusing to let him go. As soon as his shirt was thrown on the ground, forgotten, and his pants were unzipped, he resumed to kissing the tiger, biting and sucking everywhere around his mouth and giving him butterfly kisses on his eyes. His lips wandered lower and lower, trailing more kisses everywhere that he could reach. Kagami's neck, Kagami's shoulders, Kagami's chest, Kagami's hips. Unconsciously, Aomine left hickeys all over the red-head's body, as his marking them as his own. He felt Kagami shudder and whimper into his mouth, the tingling feeling inside his stomach turned into a raging beast that roared in victory every time he heard Kagami moan._

_He took Kagami's face in his hands and plunged into a deep kiss, to hell with the teases. His tongue was exploring the whole of Kagami's mouth and he licked and bit and sucked at every corners that he could reach, ready to taste it wholly before doing anything else. Aomine felt his muffled whimper tickling his inner cheeks as he continued._

_It felt exhilarating. It felt...perfect._

_Almost too perfect._

_And Aomine's mind briefly thought about the consequences of this night before shooing them away again, not caring about anything else except this moment._

_Kagami's soft lips melted into his kiss. It was like nothing he ever felt before. It wasn't like when Himuro kissed him. Without emotion. Without this...feeling. When he first kissed Kagami, there was this...instinct that made him want more. That made him think that one taste wasn't enough to satisfy the hunger inside him. The hunger that was prowling like a beast inside him. And it seemed like Kagami was the same._

_"Ungh...m-more..." his voice was muffled but Aomine could still hear his pleads, "Ao-mine...more...!"_

_He broke off the kiss, his forehead resting on Kagami's, their lips barely inches apart, the ghost of his breath still hot on Kagami's. Aomine took off Kagami's boxers. This, he knew how to do._

_Kagami's breath hitched when his skin was exposed to Aomine's curious eye, and his already flushed face turned even redder than it was, "Don't l-look..."_

_"No can do," Aomine's inner beast glowed, "You wanted more, Taiga? I'm not only a beast on court..."_

_It couldn't be that hard, could it? He had done this to himself more than a million times, after all. His skilled hands wrapped around Kagami's manhood, and started to pump, slowly. Aomine's long fingers poking it and rubbing it from the tip, where cum started to gather, moistening the hard member. Not too slow, but not fast enough to build it up, either. Aomine wanted Kagami to beg for it. Seconds after, Kagami complied to his wishes._

_"No," he was a bit out-of-breath, and speaking only made his breathing smaller and quicker, "Faster...Please, faster!"_

_Aomine's lips curved into a small smile. That was quick._

_Then he took Kagami's hard-on inside his mouth, making Kagami moan. The hands ruffling his short hair made Aomine pleased as his tongue licked at the salty stick, the taste unfamiliar but not totally unpleasant. He had never done this, but he felt somehow willed to do it when he saw the pleasure stretched on Kagami's features. It wasn't as hard as it seemed to be when Aomine was the one enjoying it, and his tongue poked at the tip._

_"Dai-Urgh...!" Kagami came, not giving any warning, and Aomine felt the warm liquid pouring into his mouth. Without thinking, he swallowed._

_"It's thick," he said as he used his hand to touch the corners of his lips, wiping the white paste-like thing off his cheeks, "Kagami, you need to learn to pleasure yourself more often..."_

_As soon as he said that, he immediately regretted it. It was a bit painful, imagining Kagami with some random girl, fucking on a stranger's bed. He had done it, lots, but thinking that the pure, innocent and sometimes wicked Kagami was doing it with someone else was making him really angry. And then he felt the throbbing pain inside his own pants._

_He felt another tugging. When he turned towards Kagami, he was abashed to see that his member was hard as wood once again, and Aomine chuckled softly to himself._

**_Now, it's my turn._ **

_He slowly peeled off his pants and boxers, making his own member spring out. Unlike Kagami's, he was pleased to see that his was slightly bigger. Kagami's eyes flickered with excitement at the sight._

_"Aomine..." There. There was Kagami's sexy bed voice. This time, it seemed like Kagami was stronger than he was seconds ago. His aura felt overwhelming, cat-like eyes narrowed in concentration as they stared at Aomine's hard-on. The shy, drunk Kagami seemed to have completely, entirely disappeared as it was replaced by sexually excited tiger, tail flicking in anticipation. He was on all four, crawling while slightly swinging his hips, his imaginary paw clawing at the sheets, getting closer to where Aomine was._

_And little Aomine apparently found this very attractive._

_Kagami's hand touched Aomine's shoulders, brushed against his skin, caressed his muscles and came on his erection. They teased him, while pumping it a little and stopping. Then doing it over and over again._ _And suddenly, when Aomine felt like he couldn't take it anymore, they stopped completely and overly-excited Kagami crawled onto Aomine, pushing him down on the bed._

_Kagami seemed to have taken the matter in his own hands. His hand wandered towards his own hole, and he stuck one finger inside, moaning._

_"Ungh...." This was so hot. Aomine was almost blinded by the view._

_Then after several seconds, he took Aomine's huge member inside his hands and inched it closer to his ass._

_Aomine stared as he abruptly seemed to understand what the latter was trying to do, almost like a slap to the face._

_"Wai- Kagami! You can't just-" Even Aomine knew that doing this with a guy was impossible. Maybe with a girl, it'll be easier and quicker but he knew that he should've prepared Kagami better if he was going all the way. He was trying to stop Kagami, but Kagami seemed to have complete control over his actions even though he was drunk, and Aomine felt the familiar feeling of entering difficultly into something exceedingly hot and...tight. So tight. Kagami was squeezing him so tight he felt like he almost couldn't breathe._

_In that moment, Aomine couldn't hear anything, including the sound of Kagami's scream._

_"Baka," he said, a bit hesitant to know if he had really hurt Kagami. The pleasure of being inside Kagami was sending electric bolts inside his stomach, but he knew that he shouldn't move and should let Kagami adjust to his length first. His hand touched Kagami's shaking shoulders, and brushed off the tears that were welling up inside his eyes, "I told you it would hurt, didn't I? You should've just let me prepare you..."_

_Kagami shook his head and attempted at a weak smile, showing he was stronger than Aomine thought._

_Aomine made a sudden move. His hips bucked._

_'Haaa...Aah!" Kagami cried out. He wasn't that ready yet, but Aomine really couldn't wait any longer. No longer putting any restraints on himself, he let himself go wild. His hardened member thrusting again and again inside his ass, the wet, slapping sound_ _resonating in the otherwise silent room. Aomine's hand grabbed onto Kagami's butt cheeks and squeezed, making Kagami's moans raise to a higher level. The tiger was half crying, half engulfed in immense pleasure that washed over him, making him cry out Aomine's name._

_"Ao- **Daiki**...!" Kagami whimpered when he felt Aomine grow even bigger inside of him. Impossibly bigger, "I-I can't-...Ungh...!"_

_His cry died out when Aomine's thrusts became faster. Then suddenly, Aomine felt Kagami's hands on his chest, wandering, searching for something to hold on._

_He thought about it for a second and shifted his and Kagami's position on the bed, momentarily stopping the movements of his hips, making Kagami groan something like 'No, don't wanna...". He made it so that Kagami was now underneath him, and Kagami arched his back instinctively on the mattress when Aomine reached something even deeper inside of him._

_Bingo. Aomine had found his prostate._

_And he was set on hitting it every time after that._

_"Unh...Aaaah! There!..." Kagami's cry could probably be heard in the next apartment and Aomine kissed him again, trying to ease his pain and make him only taste the wonderful feeling of pleasure. He wanted Kagami to only feel pleasure, even if he probably wouldn't remember this night when the morning comes, only the dulled ache inside him. He wanted Kagami to feel good, even if it'll only last one night._

_One night was all he needed._

_Aomine felt himself getting closer, and he was deaf to the sound of Kagami's ear-splitting screams of pleasure and pain._

_This feeling was better than anything he could've imagined._

 

_Aomine never wanted it to stop._

 

* * *

   

"What?"

"Payment," The red-head had said, "We were betting if I could eat more than 15 burgers."

"I never said that I'll pay you in money," Aomine responded. He usually did this with girls to fool them around, but this stranger was acting so naive, so innocent, that it made Aomine want to tease him.

The stranger raised one of his eyebrows. "Then wha-" His words were muffled by Aomine's slightly chapped lips. He curiously thought that the red-head was probably too shocked to respond instantly and so he remained still, feeling amused when he saw the stranger's reaction; Aomine could almost feel this guy's head ticking with wires as he slowly processed what had just happened. Aomine licked his lips, the red-head's had tasted like burgers, and they were soft.

Softer than a girl's were. But also harder.

"Aomine Daiki," he said simply, smiling slyly. He felt no need to hide his name. "I promise that you'll see me again." Aomine said as he left. 

Though he doubt that he'll ever see him again.

 

* * *

 

_Aomine's eyes slowly opened at the feeling of being shaken by something._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe...Im sorry for the bad smut!!! (I need to get more experience in writing these days...)  
> But I STILL HOPE U GUYS LIKE IT!!!  
> THX in advance!  
> Feel free to leave critiques or suggestions on that part!


	10. So you Never Cared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So...their bromance begins to shatter, but in a good way...why? cuz Kagami can't forget what happened that night, and he suddenly remembers that when he first met Aomine, they kissed, and it never came up in any of their conversation, as if their kiss meant nothing. And that bothered him.  
> Then when Tetsu noticed, he kind of organized a friend only meeting with GOM and Kagami, leaving out only Aomine.  
> SPOILERS ALERT:  
> Kise tries to comfort Kagami, and it ends up into something Kagami may not be willing to give...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we go with another Kagami's P.O.V.!!!  
> Yasss, I was waiting for the chance to write one of these cuz some comments have been asking for Kagami's thoughts and sexuality...  
> And I wanted to tell them spoilers but it won't be fun like that~~~

Kagami's **POV in the past**

 

_I woke up while the moon still hung in the air, the cold night's breeze fresh on my face._

_Then waves of crashing pain hit my head and body._

_Urgh, probably a hungover._

_But... what was this pain I felt in my hips, inside me? What was this throbbing feeling that I felt, stinging on my lips? What was this dulled ache that made me unable to stand on my own two feet? I thought when I tried to stand, crashing on the ground seconds after, slipping on the bedsheets and failing to catch them before they fell on the floor beside me. As I looked around, I recognized my room and suddenly saw something on my bed. Something that moved. Something that breathed._

_**Someone**. Someone with tanned skin, his legs covered by the rest of my sheets. My head unconsciously inched towards him, momentarily dumbstruck yet entranced by what I was seeing. Someone with tanned skin, perfectly culpted muscles and six-packs. I could now see his face, and, as if not daring to believe my eyes, my hands grabbed his shoulders and shook, waking him in the process. Someone with a beautiful face and blue hair and..._

_Blue eyes. Electrifying blue eyes._

_"A-Aomine?!" I couldn't help but exclaim in confusion when my mind completely understood that this beautiful, naked man was in my bed. Wait. Did I just say that he was-? "What the hell is going on-?"_

_He scratched the back of his head with an annoyed expression and -was it hurt I saw, stretched onto his face?- didn't answer my question. Then I noticed for the first time that I, too, was naked. And completely exposed._

_I blushed and covered what I could with my pillow, that I was previously clutching tightly in my hands._

_Aomine stayed silent. Then, slowly, he got up from the bed and he faced the other way, making the string creak under the lack of weight, and started to gather his clothes -that were scattered all around the floor-, pulling on his underwear and jeans, zipping it. He put on his shirt, and before buttoning it, his hands stopped moving and he asked, his low voice hiding any emotion that I could've discerned, "You don't remember...?"_

_The lack of emotion in his tone could not hide the fact that his hands were slightly shaking, as were his whole body._

_I didn't say anything, immersed in my memories, trying, desperately trying to find something that would comfort Aomine, who was acting very strange. My headache seemed to intensify when I tried to think, and I touched the ring on my neck out of habit. It was a gift that Himuro, my childhood friend and brother, had given me. It's wasn't really something valuable because of its composition, but it was precious to me because it holds memories -sad, happy, funny, wonderful and painful memories of my childhood. Of my time in America._

_Aomine turned towards me when he finished dressing and I could see nothing in his eyes. Only the light that dwindled in his gaze. Then when he understood that my lack of answer meant 'no', it suddenly went ablaze in flames, his strange, dangerous fury evident, the tiny fire lighting up his face. His expression was somewhat mixed in between hurt...and anger._

_"Then let me show you."_

_He approached me, his face inching closer and closer towards mine, and his hands squeezed my shoulders, bringing me even closer to him._

_"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Aho-?!"_

_He stopped, his face inches in front of mine, the ghost of his breath tingling my skin. For some reason, this felt familiar. This felt natural._

_His lips curved into a sad smile, "I'm sorry."_

_My eyes widened. I've heard this before._

 

Why are you struggling? From what are you running away?

Don't run away, Daiki.

_"I'm sorry, Kagami." Aomine said, complying to my wishes and finally, finally embracing me._

My head hurts.

My stomach hurts.

It's too hot. Too hot.

Why are you sorry?

This is what we wanted.

 

_Before I could've done anything, Aomine's lips took over mine._

_And in that moment, I remembered everything._

_But it was too late._

_For Aomine had gone out of my door before I had the chance to say 'wait'._

 

* * *

 

_"Wait!" I yelled out in the classroom, unknowingly having grabbed my teacher's jacket and was tugging at it. Then when he said 'Kagami-kun, I believe this is the **second time** you've been asleep in this classroom', I quickly let go and slowly sat down, my face flushed to the tip of my ears in embarrassement. I spent the rest of the classes with my head down, looking at my desk, thinking about the dream I just had._

_It was actually a flashback about what happened nearly one week ago, and Aomine hadn't contacted me since. He hadn't texted, or called, or done anything to indicate that he was alive. Didn't he care about what happened between us? At first, I was really angry with him, and felt weird about being done by a guy. I wasn't gay. I mean, gay guys are cool, but it's just not for me. So how could I, while being drunk, have wanted this from him? And how could he just do that and disappear from my life, entirely?_

_While thinking about it, I also remembered that we kissed the day we first met. It was probably just teasing from his part, but I felt this craving for his lips since. I've always wanted to ask why he did it, why all this, but I never did, because I didn't understand._

_And I still don't understand._

 

_I don't understand why my body craves his touch. I don't understand why my body **wants**  him. But for some reason, my consciousness refused to stay angry, and, slowly, something else started to plague my mind when I now think about Aomine._

_Something that tingled in the pit of my stomach and engulfed my heart, making it difficult to breathe. It roared with pleasure every time I remembered Aomine's touch, every time I remembered his breath on my skin, every time I remembered his voice, teasing me, taunting me... Every time I remembered the pleasure he gave me that night. A pleasure that I wasn't supposed to feel. A pleasure that was forbidden._

_When class ended, Kuroko quickly caught up with me on the way to the court._

_"Kagami-kun, are you, perhaps, sick?" he asked, concern making his eyes narrow._

_"I'm fine, really," I said, chuckling despite actually feeling very tired. Kuroko frowned._

_"Did something happen with Aomine-kun recently?" I nearly banged into the wall when I heard what he said. I looked at him and Kuroko had a curious expression with half an eyebrow raised and the other down that said 'nailed it'. How did he know? Dammit, Kuroko._

_"Maybe," I wasn't a good liar._

_"Kagami-kun, you are not good liar," Kuroko deadpanned, his curious eye demanding for answers._

_"Yes." My answer came out from gritted teeth. It's not that easy to say, don't you understand, Kuroko?_

_"Yes what? You_ are _a good liar or something really did happen with Aomine-kun?" he asked, but even I could sense that the latter option he said more seriously._

 _"Okay, I admit._ Yes _. Something happened."_

_I was seriously not in the mood for Kuroko's questions. I knew that talking about it would probably do some good, but I just could't say anything before I figured it out first. Everything didn't make any sense, and I wanted to know. What happened, Aomine? Why did you do it? And why did you leave? But I couldn't ask him these questions._

_"I have an idea." I totally forgot that Kuroko was still here._

_"Let's have a 'cheer-up party' for Kagami's big break up."_

 

* * *

_"Taiga, I've heard from Atsushi that your friend was making a 'cheer up party' for you?" Tatsuya said when I opened my front door, letting them in reluctantly._

_As soon as Kuroko had this stupid idea, he had organized it -despite my numerous protest- and had invited everyone he thought had positive thinking that could probably cheer me up. Including Tatsuya and the Generation of Miracles and the whole of Seirin. And when everyone arrived, I noticed that one was missing. Aomine._

_Kuroko was a manipulative bastard, almost as bad as the others. And sometimes I thought that he's probably the scariest, even more than Akashi, because he doesn't have any expression and everyone all see him as innocent and pure. But he was a good friend._

_"Kagamicchi! So tell us, how did you and Aominecchi break up? Because when I asked Kurokocchi he said something really vague along the lines of 'Kise-kun, it simply ended.' and I didn't really understand so I wanted to ask you! Did you really like Aominecchi? 'Cuz I know that sometimes he's a bit too much to handle. He can be a bit of a jerk." Kise bounced in front of me and started to chirp. I blushed beet red and didn't sense my arms starting to wave around like mad. Who would date that bastard?!_

_"I don't-"_

_"Taiga, you better have kicked his ass and dumped him or I would never forgive him," Tatsuya came and pushed Kise away, "I warned him last time. I warned him for hurting you..."_

_"But we never-"_

_"Kagami! I didn't know about any of this until Kuroko told me, and I simply cannot allow a player of Touou's date you and hurt you like this!" Riko was maybe trying to help, but Kagami only felt more confused._

_"Did Mine-chin never give you sweets? That's mean." Even Murasakibara was trying to comfort him. What the hell?!_

_"No, it's not-"_

_"Aomine is probably suffering, it's not a good day for Virgo." Midorima adjusted his glasses. Akashi mumbled something along the lines of 'I never predicted for them to be dating, so it was bound to end, sooner or later.' and I just couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take it anymore that they thought we were something that we never were. And it infuriated me, the thought that we never dated. We weren't some couple who quarrelled and broke up. We weren't some couple who quarrelled and made up._

_We simply never were._

_"It's not like that!" I literally exploded, my tone laced with fury. The room was silent after my outburst. It wasn't like that. I never wanted to see everything we had fall apart. If I knew that it would end like this, I would've never gotten drunk. I would've never went to the party. I would've never bothered to know Aomine because, now, it's too painful. It's too painful to think that Aomine probably hates me. It would've been better if he didn't know me at all. If I could just...erase what I did._

_What was wrong with me? Why did I feel guilty and uneasy? Why was there this ache inside my heart? Why have I wanted him to stay?_

_"Kagami, Leo is brave and stubborn. It says right here that they will be able to recover from something heart-breaking, from something big. But, also, with **someone** 's help," he emphasized greatly on the 'someone'. I knew that Midorima was trying, in his own twisted ways, to tell me that everything was fine. I smiled a bit, the ridiculously funny sentence making me laugh a little._

_"Maybe I could help!" It was Kise, this time._

_"What do you want, Kise?"_

_"Kagamicchi, I should do something to comfort you," he said, "Maybe I can play the 'someone' in Midorimacchi's 'prophesy'."_

_I stared at him. No._

_Kise smiled, and approached me gently._

_"Go away."_

_"No can do."_

**_No can do. You wanted more, Taiga? I'm not only a beast on court._ **

_"Please, I just...can't," I said. Too many memories._

_"Kagamacchi, do you miss Aominecchi? Were you really in love with him? Ne, tell me, is your love worth all the pain you're feeling now?" he said. Love? I love Aomine? No. Impossible. Then his head rested on my shoulder and my eyes became transfixed on his movements. His arms lace around mine and lingered there for a moment before interlocking together our fingers. He then raised his arm with mine and lightly kissed the back of the my hand, "Can I help you...to forget?"_

_Everyone stared at us with wide eyes. Even Kuroko. Then suddenly, it seemed like Kuroko saw something behind me, and a look of realization passed his face._

_I simply froze._

_Forget... The suggestion, the simple idea of forgetting everything that happened since the day I met Aomine was ridiculous. How could I forget a man that kissed me for a tease when we first met? How could I forget a man with whom I would bicker so late at night? How could I forget a man, so lazy, so annoying, but at the same time, his reactions so impossibly cute? How could I forget a man that made me laugh, that made me cry, that made me feel so much, so much that I've never felt before?_

_I could pretend. Pretending may be easier than feeling this pain in my heart, may make me feel better than what I felt now._

_"Kise..." I hesitated. I've never done this before. Was this ache in my heart worth this? Was this pain in my heart worth my second time? Probably not. I didn't care._

_Then suddenly, Kise let go. He turned me around and looked seriously in my eyes._

_"Kagamicchi, think about what you're doing. Will it be better if it had been Aominecchi's hand linked with yours, Kagamicchi? Will it be better if I was Aominecchi, and he had tapped you on the shoulder?" he asked me. I was speechless for a moment, then I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it. To imagine the scene in my head. What if I turned around now, and saw Aomine standing behind me, instead of Kise? What if it was Aomine, whispering sweet nothings in my ear? What if it was Aomine, his skin kissing mine and our hands linked together?_

_Without thinking, I whispered, "Yes."_

_And then, I understood. It was never impossible. In fact, what everyone said only reinforced my own feelings. Why I wanted to have sex with Aomine that night. Why I always dreamt of him hugging me, kissing me. Why I've been wanting to taste his lips on mine since the first day we met._

_I've liked him._

_I like him._

_"...Then why are you still looking at me, Kagamicchi? You're making Aominecchi jealous."_

_I looked behind me, where Kise was now looking with a pang of guilt in his bright eyes, where everyone else was also looking._

_There he was._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm....I'm not really proud of it....  
> THX 4 reading!!!  
> My next update ill probably be in four days...or one week....


	11. Your Promises of forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine is really frustrated. He thought about apologizing to Kagami, since he knew for sure that the latter was angry at him for what he had done.  
> Why couldn't he have controlled himself? Then they could've stayed friends...  
> But...Aomine had long ago realized that that was not what he wanted, and maybe it what just that he refused to see it, refused his desires and pretended everything was okay.  
> Suddenly, he received a text from Tetsu, asking him about what he had done, so he told him everything, and Tetsu replied with a 'come at Kagami's tonight. 7:30. P.S. Kagami won't be here.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, this chapter's a bit weirdly fluffy, I'm so sorry~~~~  
> but i need Aomine to realize it first!  
> and smutty will come one day, one day T-T....lets wait together.
> 
> BTW, the chap is a bit long, but just saying that u probably shouldn't expect long chaps from me cuz it rly depends on my mood, and my brain...

_"Arghhhhhhhh!" Aomine was this close to scratch out all -well, what remained- of his already short blue hair. Maybe he became deaf and he didn't realize it, or just didn't care, but his mom was currently ranting on and on about his crisis sessions to his dad while cutting the vegetables angrily in the kitchen, shouting that he better stop screaming at once or she'll dye his hair brown (which Aomine thought was a horrible colour, no offence to anyone who had brown hair)._

_Why did he do it? He wish that he could've answered his own question, but after thinking about it for nearly a week, his brain nearly died. And he was almost going mad because whenever he thought about asking Kagami to forgive him and apologize to him, he's never felt as if he had done something wrong, except that his logical self told him that drunken sex was always wrong. But he never felt that he regretted it._

_But maybe Kagami did._

_Maybe Kagami regretted what they had done, since he didn't send Aomine even one text message or call or do anything that could've indicated that he wasn't mad at Aomine. And Aomine felt scared of facing him himself, so he never did anything either. Maybe Kagami just wanted to forget. To forget him._

_To forget what happened._

_Maybe he thought it was best._

_Maybe if... he'd never done anything, maybe if he had just walked away, they could've stayed friends. They could've stayed rivals._

_They could've played it safe._

_Because they were both scared of facing what they refused to admit all along._

 

* * *

 

_Aomine was already regretting that he had come here once again, at the place where he had sworn to never set foot to, at the place where everything shattered. At the place where the beginning was the end, because it never had a start. At the place where everything ended without a start._

_There it was, basking lazily in the sunlight, Kagami's apartment._

_Aomine's gaze was focused on the ground as he walked towards it, trying to not let any passerby see the guilty look on his face. He sincerely hoped that Tetsu wasn't lying._

  ** _-22:01 aomine-kun, what did you do? kagami-kun isn't himself._**

_Tetsu had sent him that message two nights after the party, and Aomine had went through a lot of different emotions at that time. He had just banged his fist on the wall, trying to forget what he had done to Kagami, but whilst he was unable to forget and unable to sleep, the anger in him raged harder than ever and blamed no one but himself for such a reckless action. Then when Tetsu had texted, asking him about it, about what happened, everything he was feeling seemed to just...burst. And in that moment, he didn't even realize what he was doing before he told Tetsu everything._

_About what happened when they left the party._

_About Aomine's hesitation at staying the night._

_About the kiss._

_About the sex._

_About his feelings of guilt, guilt that plagued him everywhere he went and made him crazy._

  ** _-23:48 i see. don't blame yourself, aomine-kun._**

_And that was all that Tetsu said, after hearing what was probably Aomine's only life confession._

_How could Aomine not?_

_If he was honest with himself, Aomine, at that moment, felt anger at his former shadow. He blamed himself for all of it. Aomine didn't reply after that, and Tetsu seemed to have understood him wanting to be left alone for a while. Until today. At exactly 9:00 in the morning, Tetsu sent him a text that made him wary about its real meaning._

  ** _-9:00 come at kagami-kun's. thursday, 7:30. come alone. (kagami-kun won't be there.)_**

_It didn't feel like a request. Aomine didn't even want to ask why. This time, Tetsu was serious, and Aomine didn't like the idea of having Satsuki knowing all about his lifetime confession and nagging him about his shitty actions. He didn't felt like seeing Satsuki's disappointed expression, nor her compassionate one, and he didn't want to feel pitied._

_He hesitated when his hand was about to lock on the hard-wood door of Kagami's apartment. Was he really going to do this? Tetsu, despite having said that Kagami won't be there, was a good friend, but he used evil methods. Aomine didn't really want to rely on his word, mostly because his former shadow had a knack for successfully saving him from awkward situations by making him do even more awkward stuffs and making him embarrassed as hell. Once and once again Aomine had swore to never rely on his evil, two-faced demon friend again, but he seemed to attract trouble like two pieces of magnet. Though he always ended up with being saved by the shadow. But this time, he felt like he really screwed up with Kagami._

_He felt like he sunk into a bottomless pit where even shadows didn't exist._

_Aomine decided to not knock after all, saving himself from the embarrassement of showing himself, and turned the doorknob while praying that it was open and that it won't creak loudly like the moth-bitten door in those haunted houses movies that mostly didn't apply in real life._ _  
_

_It fulfilled both._

_He tiptoed across the hall and almost immediately plastered himself on the wall when he heard voices coming from the living room._

_"...is your love worth all the pain you're feeling now?" Kise._

_What was Kise doing here? Aomine didn't understand. But from Kise's tone, it felt like he was hearing something he wasn't supposed to hear. It was like Aomine was an undercover spy that came upon a scene that was more...intimate than he would've liked in his comfort zone._

_Curious and hesitant, Aomine slowly crept to the edge of the wall and peeked into the living room. The first thing that he noticed was Kagami, his back facing Aomine. Tetsu had lied! Aomine suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over him, relief that he hadn't knocked on that goddamned door. And as he looked at the scene before him, he slightly shifted his position on the wall so he could get a better view, as no one was looking in his direction. But then he noticed something else that made the hair on the back of his neck stand and the beast inside him growl with inexplicable fury._

_Situated about three meters away from him, Kise was hugging Kagami. His soft hair was brushing against Kagami's cheek, and his golden eyes widened when they noticed Aomine's. Kise quickly composed himself after showing his shocked face, then his lips curved and he smiled at Aomine. Without leaving Aomine from his gaze, Kise's hands moved from the tiger's stiff shoulders and interlocked themselves with Kagami's, and Aomine couldn't do anything but stare back as he saw Kise slowly raise both their arms and his lips brushed against the back of Kagami's hand._

_In that moment, Aomine wanted nothing more than to go up there and punch Kise in the face._

_He immediately noticed his own anger at his former teammate. It was the same when Kise and Kagami kissed at the party. Why?_

_Kise whispered something in Kagami's ears, that made him flinch, and he suddenly let Kagami's hands go and backed away. For only a brief moment, Aomine thought that he saw Kise's eyes glance back at him and they gave him a guilty look._

_"Then why are you still looking at me, Kagamicchi? You're making Aominecchi jealous."_

_Huh?_

_Then, before Aomine's mind could've processed what Kise said just now, everyone in the room seemed to have noticed his presence and was looking at him with big eyes, some of them having narrowed eyes that stared at him with suspicion._

_And Kagami, well, Kagami also stared at him after he heard what Kise said._

_Kise, that bastard!_

_"Uh...Hi?" that was probably the lamest thing he could've come up with, but it seemed that Aomine's brain had stopped functioning under all these heavy stares._

_"Aomine." Kagami blinked. From the look of Kagami's blank face, Kagami didn't know what to say, and Aomine didn't know either._

_"I-" Aomine stopped. What was he going to say? Will it be enough? "Kagami, I-"_

_Everyone stared at him. Did Tetsu really tell all these people what he had done? Did they all bear a grudge against Aomine now?_

_"Um, I'm sorry I'm late?" he made an attempt and gave an awkward smile._

_Aomine felt someone stare at him, hard, and when he lifted his eyes, Tetsu was standing there, just behind Kagami and Kise. His face was as devoid of emotions as ever, but, to Aomine, the corners of his mouth twitched in a small smile, and Tetsu gave him a slight nod._

_"I-I don't know if I should be sorry. I really don't know what to say." He had found his voice again._

_"That night, Kagami, y-you were drunk. And I wasn't myself. I know it was wrong, but...I couldn't control the desire inside me. I didn't think and I did it anyways. I feel like I should regret it, like I should regret what I've done to you and to myself and to **us**. But I don't," Aomine didn't even know what he was saying anymore, he only knew that it made his heart feel lighter and lighter, "I never regretted a second of it, and I-I'm sorry if it changed you."_

_There was a slight pause inside the living room, and Aomine could almost heart his own breathing. The air around him suffocated him as he waited for Kagami's anger to inflate. Then..._

_"Aho," came the soft reply. Kagami wasn't even looking at him anymore._

_Kagami's eyes were staring at the interesting ceiling above as if it had the most beautiful painting he has ever seen, and his cheeks were beyond blushing now. They were a deep shade of crimson and he had a funny expression on his face that was crossed between anger, relief, embarrassment and happiness. He didn't even seem to notice the faint, goofy smile that was plastered on his face when Aomine finished._

_"Baka," Aomine nearly laughed at himself. At them._

_"You never learn, do you? Did you think you were the only one?" Kagami said, Aomine didn't understand what he was saying, "I started it._ I _wanted it."  
_

_He couldn't have. He was drunk._

_The room held its breath, as if waiting for the final blow._

_"But-"_

_"I've never regretted it since."_

_Kagami...doesn't regret?_

_Aomine felt relief and... the weird feeling inside his stomach boiled up again. He smiled._

_"Aomine, I believe I've warned you about hurting Taiga," Himuro spoke up, interrupting both their thoughts and making Aomine suddenly cower in fear when he saw the light inside the violet eyes. He didn't really think about the consequences... Himuro was absolutely furious and he jabbed a finger at Aomine's chest, "Next time, I won't be so forgiving. I'll never let you make Taiga cry-"_

_"Tatsu-nii! I never cried!" Kagami's blush came back and he quickly covered Himuro's mouth with his hands. His mouth was pouting and he turned his head away when Aomine looked at him curiously, his blue orbs teasing him._

_"Oh, did you really?" Aomine felt better when the room suddenly burst out laughing. It seemed that all was forgiven, and Aomine resumed his taunting._

_"Aominecchi, next time, could you tell me if you want to break up with Kagamicchi again? 'Cuz I'm willing to take him~" Kise had the nerve to say that, and Aomine felt a vein pop on his forehead. Never will he give Kagami to anyone! Because Kagami was- Kagami was-_

_Not his._

_Kagami was never his._

_Kagami was-_

_"Mine," Aomine didn't realize when his voice turned into a sort of growl and he gave Kise a furious look. Like a beast. "He's_ mine _."_

_And when he realized what he had just said, his eyes widened._

_Did he just-?_

_Even Aomine knew by now that his face was probably as red as Kagami's had been when Himuro embarrassed him in front of everyone._

_Kagami's head turned towards him when he heard what Aomine had said and he blushed, too, which didn't make Aomine feel any better. And the worst thing was, Aomine did it to him himself. He felt like he had been ripped in two again; a part of him wanting to mark Kagami all over and claim that he was his, and the other wanting to hide and punch himself in the face for being so stupid. Kise stared at him, his mouth agape, and Kuroko winked when Aomine's eyes pleaded for his friend to help him out of this, abandoning poor Aomine to his fate. Aomine nearly face palmed, and he grabbed Kagami by the wrist -that him earned a 'hey, what the heck are you doing?'- and shut themselves in the nearest room he could reach -which was coincidentally Kagami's bedroom, the place where they had done 'it'._

_After he had unceremoniously thrown Kagami on the bed and shut the door, he froze. This was awkward._

_"Care to explain?" Kagami asked, huffing a bit, "What did you mean by 'yours'?"_

_"Urgh, that was awkward as hell, I never meant to say that," Aomine said, more to himself than to Kagami. Why did he say that just then? Kagami wasn't an object, so what did he meant by 'mine'?_

_"Kagami, I only said it because..." What if Kagami was his?_

_When that thought reached his mind, his heart made a little jump and his throat felt dry. The tingling feeling settled itself near his stomach again, making him unable to breathe normally. Aomine could've sworn that, in that moment, his heartbeat was as loud as a drum, and that Kagami could probably hear it as clear as he did._

_Oh._

_So that was it._

_"Kagami," Aomine's voice was rough, his eyes glanced at the tiger and fled from his stare again._

_Kagami looked at him from his sitting position on his own bed, his eyes curious as to what Aomine wanted(not) to say._

_"I... like you."_

_Kagami stared._

_Aomine didn't move. Only after having said it, having heard it come out from his mouth, loud and clear, did he realize that it was true. That it was the truth of all his weird reactions, of everything he felt towards Kagami all along. If you asked when he started liking him, Aomine would've probably said something like 'it was love at first sight', which was totally unlike him, because Aomine had **never** believed in love at first sight. _

_He hoped and hoped that Kagami will- What did he hope Kagami would do? Accept his confession? Then what?_

_Kagami's mouth opened, and what came out of it was totally not what Aomine was expecting._

_"Y-you're kidding, right?" he asked, his voice quivering a bit. The words that came out from his mouth dropped on Aomine's head like a bomb. Kagami's eyes seemed to dull, all of a sudden, and the light disappeared from them as he looked at Aomine again and smiled. It was the saddest smile Aomine had ever seen, and he wasn't sure what had caused it, "You're not serious. It can't be true..."_

_"Kagami, what do you mean?" Aomine said._

_"I-, I don't believe it," his red eyes welled up in tears and he shook his head as if to clear it from his own thoughts. It seemed to have taken everything inside him to will the tears not to fall, but they did anyway, and Kagami's hands rubbed at his wet cheeks, "I d-don't believe you. It's never real. Every time I think that I finally -finally know something about you, that I finally learned something about you, about your past, it turns out to be a joke, it turns out to be fake. The secrets hidden inside your heart never seem to end, I- It's as if there a two different person inside you..."_

_"I didn't understand- I didn't understand any of it," Kagami continued, hiccuping and wiping at his eyes with fury, "I didn't understand why I wanted you to stay, why my body always reacted only to you. Why I've been longing for more after we first kissed. I understand now, but I'm scared, Aomine. You never seemed to care. I'm scared of facing something which I've never did before..."_

_It's true that Aomine has always felt like there were two different person inside of him, inside his heart. The little boy that was hidden there was always faltering between appearance and disappearance since Kagami came into his life, awakened by his unusual force in basketball that almost equalled Aomine's own. But the other, the Aomine that ceased to fight, that ceased to hope, was still controlling most of him, and his actions. He didn't know if he was the first or the second one as he stared at Kagami. Maybe he was both._

_Or maybe he was neither._

_Maybe Kagami had managed to awaken a new side of him._

_A new Aomine that wanted to fight; that wanted to fight again. A renewed Aomine that never will be again the joyful little boy he was, but that wasn't the broken one either. Aomine's feet felt numb as he slowly approached Kagami and put his hands on his shoulders; he felt the tiger flinch at his touch, and the once quivering breaths he took were now gradually becoming normal, even._

_"Kagami," he said, using his lowest voice, trying to soothe Kagami's uneasiness away, "I like you."_

_He said all of this more firmly, more assuringly than before, and those red orbs stared up at him._

_"You're lying."_

_"No, I'm not." Why couldn't Kagami believe him?_

_"I'll say it as many times as you want me to. I'll say it until you believe me," Aomine's hands brushed against his face and they cupped his cheeks. They slid across his smooth skin and moved towards Kagami's eyes. Those red, red eyes staring at him, so pure. They were bloodshot and the black-pouches underneath them indicated that Kagami had missed sleep, and Aomine couldn't help but wonder if it was his fault, as his lack of sleep had been filled with thoughts about Kagami. The dull light inside had become bright again when Aomine's long fingers wiped away the wet stain his tears had left behind._

_"Really?" Kagami's childish voice made Aomine chuckle, and he brought their foreheads together, "What are you laughing at, Aho?"_

_The slight pout that Kagami made was probably not on purpose, but Aomine found it adorable all the same. He now recognized that the feelings he harboured towards Kagami were always love. It was too early to say now, but he was willing to make him a promise of forever. Aomine's lips brushed against his eyelids. Kagami blinked and his cheeks flushed, the lashes fluttered over Aomine's cheek, which tingled a bit. It was as if the gesture formed the words Aomine could not say. The words that expressed what he really felt inside his heart._

**_I missed you._ **

_Aomine's lips pecked on his cheek, and he heard Kagami's breath hitch inside his throat. The innocent kiss made Kagami's heartbeat faster, and he could sense it beating underneath his palm._

**_I adore you._ **

_Aomine's tongue licked the soft spot that was just above Kagami's shoulders, yet below the crook of his neck. The tiger shuddered when the tip of his wet tongue skidded across his skin, and the goosebumps followed his trail. He made a sort of whimpering sound that seemed similar to a wounded animal._

**_I desire you._ **

_Aomine's lips placed a light kiss on everyone of his ten fingers, making his fingertips tingle and his body shift uncomfortably. Kagami watched him as Aomine gently tended to each one of his fingers and slowly placed them on his lap.  
_

**_I like you._ **

_Aomine's lips touched his bottom lip, kissed the corner of his mouth and finally, finally took over his. Completely. He moaned sweetly when he felt Aomine's tongue poke at his lips, asking for permission. But Kagami knew, as he fully gave himself to Aomine, that Aomine was asking for not only permission inside his mouth, but also for permission inside his heart._

**_I love you._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay...this chapter was fun!  
> Hope it was good enough~~~  
> XD
> 
> Um, the sappy Kagami is rly weird and I was hesitating to bring the confession here, but I brought it here anyway....  
> Is it good? Is it?  
> Im a bit impatient cuz it's not really to my liking.......  
> THX 4 reading~
> 
> P.S. i didn't even START the next chapter!!! what should i do I'm sorry I'm sorry its all my fault......  
> I probably won't update for like...four days(again).  
> hehehe~
> 
>  
> 
> (I'm sorry if sometimes u guys see notifications about chapter updates when its the same chap that comes up!!! sometimes, i re-read the chaps and i see errors so when i update it updates automatically~)


	12. Tell me What you Really Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They kiss, and it suddenly feels really hot inside the room.  
> In the end, it's basically sex talk.  
> But then Kagami gets embarrassed because he notices they've been watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I' rly sorry for the very very very late update!!! I promised a four days -thats already long- then update in almost two weeks later, I hope u guys forgive meeee!!!!....  
> Basically fluff and bad-written smut and fluff again~

_"I like you, too... I think," Kagami whispered when Aomine released him. They were both panting, though the lack of oxygen was not the only factor that made them feel out of breath. The hotness in the air as well as the hotness Aomine felt tightening his pants was another, and he could see that Kagami was the same, judging by the fact that his cheeks were flushed red and his eyes seemed hazy. The slight bulge inside Kagami's skinny jeans made Aomine's heart thump. The tiger's tone of voice was more like a schoolgirl than a normal teenage boy, yet Aomine found this cute, and his heart nearly jumped out of his throat when he heard those words. He fears greatly that he might have a problem._

_Well, what did it matter anyway. Aomine always had problems when it came to Kagami._

_Aomine chuckled. Even though Kagami's tone was uncertain, his cheeks had already turned an impossible shade of crimson. Truthfully, Aomine wanted nothing more than for Kagami to respond to his feelings, but... this was enough. It was enough to know that Kagami possibly liked him. For now. "...You_ think _?"_

_The red-head's cheeks flushed as red as his hair, and he turned away, "...Don't get ahead of yourself, moron."_

_"Okay, Okay. I get it."_

_Aomine kissed him again. It wasn't like him to be a romantic, but when he saw Kagami's face like this he couldn't help but want to please him and his heart felt all mushy inside because of these feelings tingling inside the pit of his stomach and making his heart beat faster. At first, Kagami hesitated._

_Then Aomine felt him relax in his embrace and slowly start to kiss him back._

_Aomine hummed inside the kiss, feeling content, and he felt the tiger shiver with anticipation when he did. One of his hands came up to pinch Kagami's chin and pulled him closer to him, enjoying the other's warmth. And he nearly died of cuteness when Kagami, feeling slightly uncomfortable, searched for a more suitable position and crawled into his lap, practically sitting on top of Aomine with legs crossed together, and resumed kissing him._

_Kagami licked tentatively at Aomine's bottom lip when they broke apart, and his red eyes narrowed into slits, the lust inside them was evident. Was this an invitation?_

_"Feeling kinky, aren't we?" Aomine said, his eyes scrutinizing the situation. He understood enough to know that Kagami was as hard as he was. He thought about it for a second before his hands moved from their original position on Kagami's hips and came upon the latter's butt, squeezing them, earning a well-deserved moan from the tiger, "Wanna do it?"_

_"You're incorrigible. Can't you be romantic without thinking about sex?" Kagami sighed and his words were harsh, but his tone of voice and gaze indicated that he wanted it as bad as Aomine did, and Aomine was sure that he could make him want it even more. His fingertips rubbed circles into Kagami's back, and Aomine felt him shiver at his touch when his finger slid down at the end of his spine, tracing a straight line on his back. Aomine made a mental note to get to know every sweet spot on Kagami's body. He felt the red-head shift again, and Kagami brought his gaze on Aomine's._

_"Hey, Aomine, are we...together?" Aomine's hands paused, and he could hear Kagami's breathing right next to him._

_This was real._ They _were real._

_"Yeah," he said, after having found his voice again, "Yeah, we are. Idiot."_

_And he really_ _couldn't help adding 'idiot' after he said it. He silently thought about even if they changed, nothing would ever change for real, and Kagami would always be 'the idiot who eats too much and likes basketball' in his head._

_They both stopped talking for a minute or so, silently wondering about how things were going to change. Kagami lay his forehead on Aomine's shoulder while sitting in his lap, and Aomine stared ahead at the wall as they listened quietly to each other's heartbeat, finding comfort in each other's warmth._

 

* * *

 

_His hands pushed Kagami down with his bodyweight, making the both of them stumble and fall on the bed with Kagami below him._

_"You were really sexy while riding me," Aomine's voice was rough, and he lowered his head for his mouth to whisper near Kagami's ear, "But I want to be the one in control this time."_

_Kagami grunted something unintelligible when Aomine took off his shirt, his eyes narrowed with a hungry gaze. The red-head's heart had skipped a beat when his eyes trailed across the perfectly sculpted muscles on Aomine's abdomen. Before Kagami realized what he was doing, his fingers brushed against Aomine's tanned chest and started to outline each muscle as if trying to remember their form, making them tense beneath his touch. The latter groaned when he felt the cold flesh of Kagami's fingertips graze at his body, and his head lowered to bite down on Kagami's neck, making him moan._

_The tanned hands literally tore Kagami's shirt off and he threw their pants to the corner of the room, where all other clothes lay -including their undergarments-, forgotten by their bearer._

_"Do you want me to be gentle?" Aomine's lips came dangerously close to Kagami's, and they both felt the hot breaths on each others face, each of them knowing that the other was trying to make their endurance into a competition. "Or rough?" Aomine's lips lightly brushed against his skin, not quite kissing him yet, but Kagami's pride didn't allow himself to beg first._

_Kagami shivered. He felt his resolve waver slightly when he felt Aomine's rough hands massaging his thighs, slowly sliding inward, inches by inches._

_"...Do what you want," Kagami turned his head away from Aomine's hard gaze, yet Aomine still couldn't help but notice the reddening of his ears, and that only turned him on more. He licked his lips._

_"Unngh-..." Kagami made a weird sound when Aomine's hands came upon his hot skin, almost ghosting across it. His hand wandered lower and lower until it came across something hard, and Aomine smiled. His long fingers squeezed the sensitive shaft, then rubbed at tip of it, making it peek out from its foreskin. Pearly beads of pre-cum gathered around the head and moistened the skin around it, the painful throbbing of having an arousal making Kagami shift uncomfortably on the mattress. Despite Kagami's obvious discomfort, Aomine sported a wicked grin and resumed taking his own sweet time, having trapped Kagami under him, helplessly aroused but unable to do anything._

_Seeing the tiger squirm in his grasp with uncontrolled pleasure made him unexpectedly pleased._

_It was then that Aomine suddenly thought of the possibility of being an S. It wasn't that he liked to torture and do bondages on people, but the mere idea of seeing Kagami blindfolded and arms attached behind his back, unable to move, unable to see, made his stomach boil._ _The red-head jerked involuntarily when he felt something poking around his entrance._

_He didn't look, but he felt the tip Aomine's finger slide in without much restraint, though the sensation did make his insides tingle a bit. It became slightly unpleasant when another came in and started to thrust in and out of him, slowly._

_"Need Lube. Condom." Aomine huffed while his eyes were still focused on Kagami's erection, without stopping his movements._

_"Unngh...T-top -haaa- drawers. Left." Kagami's attention snapped back at Aomine when he felt the cold liquid being smeared at his entrance and he saw Aomine tear open the condom's package with his teeth._

_Then Aomine hooked his fingers and Kagami gasped, his back violently arching off from the bed at the sudden sensation._

_Aomine's fingers had touched something inside of him. The icy waves of pleasure spread through Kagami's legs and chest and made his heart bead louder than ever._

_"Heh, your reaction was the same as that night," Kagami couldn't even hear Aomine's words anymore. Nothing else was more important to him now than to feel what he had felt seconds ago, and he grounded his hips against Aomine's fingers, searching for the amazing pleasure he'd felt and wanting to feel it again and again. Aomine seemed to have understood, and he used his fingers to pleasure him until they were all slick and sticky as he pulled them out._

_"...I can't stop," Aomine warned, but Kagami didn't even need a warning to know. The feeling of being entered by something that was certainly not as small as two fingers and more than noticeable. Kagami whimpered when he felt the head going in and he stopped breathing when the huge member tore apart his insides, successfully passing the ring of muscles that kept it out from Kagami's entrance._

_The lube did ease a bit the pain, but it wasn't enough, and Kagami's eyes watered._

_Aomine made a weird sound between a groan and a sigh when he felt himself being swallowed inside. It was tight, too tight, and incredibly hot, both sensation making him feel utterly ecstatic and crazy at the same time._

_"Stop squeezing me so tightly..." Aomine teased him, and he kissed Kagami's eyes lashes to wipe the tears away._

_"Dumbass, it's not like I- Ugh!" Kagami shut his eyes and he bit his lower lip, almost drawing out blood. Aomine had suddenly thrusted in and the direct hit to his prostate had made him see white again. Kagami's face was as red as a tomato, and Aomine could sincerely say that he found this unexpectedly cute. Then the tiger turned his head away in embarrassement and hid his face behind his arms._

_Aomine noticed, and he grinned, "Hey, don't hide your face like that. Lemme see."_

_When Aomine managed to grab onto and hold Kagami's wrist down, pinning him on the bed and making him unable to hide from Aomine's wandering eye, Kagami seemed to have finally given up and he opened those beautiful red orbs that stared at him with a hazy gaze as his hips thrust inside continually. As their line of sight connected with each other's, Aomine could've swore that he saw Kagami's eyes flashed a bright red, and the stares passed between them was hot and wild. Like electricity. Like fire._

_"N-not so fast, idio- Aaah!" Kagami's moans was like music to his ears, and Aomine wanted nothing more than to make everyone else hear them. To make everyone else know that Kagami was finally, finally his. And his alone._

_"Tell me you want it," Aomine said, "I want to see you aching for me..."_

_"Uhhh....S-stop..." The tiger's moans were accompanied with occasional hiccups, but he was squeezing Aomine so tight that it was impossible to believe his words._

_"But if I stop..." Aomine, for the second time, lowered his head until his lips were near the tiger's ears, and he felt Kagami tense beneath him, "The one who'll be bothered..."_

_He suddenly slowed down the pace a bit and loosened the grip he had on Kagami._

_"...is you, right?" he stopped completely and pulled out slightly, only the tip of his member remaining in Kagami's ass. He looked at Kagami, and the latter seemed to be heating up like an oven, and Aomine wondered if he still had blood left in other parts of his body. Don't be fooled, Aomine never intended and doesn't intends to stop, but he really just wanted to see Kagami's flustered face and hear the tiger's angry voice yelling at him, calling him names._

_He might as well be an M._

_"No," he heard the red-head's words, spoken softly as if not wanting for him to hear them, but Aomine heard them anyways. "D-don't...pull...it out...I..."_

_Kagami's face shifted, enough for his eyes to see the red spreading on his cheeks and near his eyes -though that was probably from crying- and all the way to his ears again, "I...want more."_

_Those electrifying blue eyes widened, and a shocked expression passed on his face. He couldn't see the red-head's face, since it was buried inside his pillow, but his red ears were unmistakably flushed to the tip and Aomine couldn't help but blushed, too. He never expected this. This was totally unfair._

_"Tsk, fuck you, Taiga," Aomine gritted his teeth, "If you say stuff like these I'll probably kill you someday..."_

_"Uwaaa! No, wait -Ah...Ungh..!" Kagami's hands scratched at his forearms and clawed at his shoulders. Just like a cat, was what Aomine thought. Kagami peered into his eyes, and it seemed that not only were their bodies were connected, but their thoughts and movements alike._

_"Here. Hold on to me," Aomine took both his wrist in his hands and lead them to his back and neck. Kagami's hands immediately hooked on the crooked part of his neck and he lifted himself off the bed to nuzzle his nose in it, burying his face down on Aomine's hot skin. His whimpers intensified when their position switched so that Aomine was practically supporting him, making him free to reach even deeper inside of him._

_"Hmm...Ngh!" Kagami attempted to muffle his sounds by biting the pillow, but that just made Aomine's desire to hear them even stronger._

 

* * *

 

_"I didn't know that you'd wanted me that much."_

_"Who said that?!" Kagami's face flushed again. Aomine laughed, and it only made Kagami feel more embarrassed. He really should be used to Aomine's pattern of speech now. The red-head looked away again, and Aomine had to strain his ears to hear the next words, "Though it's true..."_

_Aomine's whole body froze, then he grinned at Kagami. He lazily rolled off the covers and hugged the red-head, who was ignoring Aomine in the most non-subtle way, the wonderful feeling of Kagami's soft skin against his own not at all ruined by the sticky feeling of sweat. It felt good, to be able to talk with Kagami after this. They lay like that for a while, without speaking, each thinking about things that was silently plaguing both of their minds, but not wanting to break the comfortable silence they were both immersed in._

_Though after a while, Aomine scrambled on his limbs and sat up on the bed._

_"It's hot." he said to Kagami, who seemed to have just woken up from a peaceful slumber._

_"...We're in the middle of summer, stupid." he deadpanned._

_"No, it's because I'm here."_

_Only after several seconds did Kagami realize what Aomine had just said, and then a pillow was seen flying across the bed to successfully attain Aomine's face before falling off on the ground with a dull 'thud' accompanied with an 'Ow!' from the tanned man._

_"You're narcissist." Kagami was sporting a grin, and he felt even more proud when he saw Aomine rub his nose with scrunched up eyebrows._

_"And you love me all the same." After two seconds of faking his pain, Aomine's lips stretched into a smile and he crawled towards Kagami. Then his finger lifted his chin and he made a sudden movement to kiss the tiger, but stopped at the last second, their lips only centimetres apart. He felt Kagami holding his breath._

_"You want it?" Aomine asked, though he didn't even need to, seeing as Kagami's eyes were all blurry and the slight blush to his cheeks never disappeared._

_As soon as the words 'you wish, dumbass.' were released from Kagami's mouth, Aomine's lips brushed against his and he stuck his tongue inside the opening that Kagami had made when he had spoken. Kagami's may-have-been protests vanished inside, muffled by his forceful kiss. Though their relationship had differed quite a bit compared to what is was before, Aomine was sure that they would always remain like this._

_Like beasts._

_-Or two dumbasses who were always going to fight with each other on the smallest things._

_"Ready for round two?" Aomine was reluctantly coerced into admitting to the importance of his need for air, and he pulled away from Kagami. But that didn't mean he wanted to._

_The other was feeling it, too, Aomine was sure of it, but then all the blood inside Kagami's body gathered in his cheeks and his eyebrows frowned._

_"What?! No, you stupid aho!" I'm not even sure if I would be able to walk for days..." Kagami pushed Aomine off of him and stood up, thinking that it would be nice to take a bath. Unfortunately, his body chose to wobble and his legs decided to give up on him, so that's how he found himself sitting on the floor and unable to walk, as stable as a baby deer. With his hands trying to support him from the ground, he straightened his legs and swayed with uneasy steps towards the bathroom._

_"You sure you don't want me to help?" Aomine frowned. Was he too forceful?_

_Kagami glanced back towards him and threw him a reproachful look before closing the door. Though just before the both of them were separated by the glass door of the bathroom, Aomine saw the red-head's gaze soften and his lips curve into a smile when he probably thought that Aomine wasn't looking. Crap, this guy was just too damn adorable. Aomine quietly wondered if he should be worried that anyone will steal the red-head from him. And since their schools were so far away, it would be hard to fend off the rivals._

_Aomine sincerely hoped that what they had now would last forever. He hoped that Kagami would always be his._

_Kagami had given him everything he ever wanted._

_A partner that could make him feel the joy of having his hands on the texture of a basketball._

_A friend and rival that could make him unable to anticipate the outcome of a new game._

_A worthy opponent that could stir him up into having to put his full concentration on the game. To free the beast inside him of all the chains he put on himself to control his own power. The beast that loved the sound of the ball swishing in the air, that loved the feeling of sweating and working and practicing before a match, that needed, desperately, someone that could be its equal. And the beast inside Kagami had roared to life and fulfilled every one of these requirements when they clashed on court._

_When they had clashed on court..._

_When Seirin had won, Aomine was suddenly overcome with a sudden realization._

_His instincts, his head, his body, everything about him told Aomine that...'it's him.'_

_'It was always him.'_

_Aomine never would've thought that Kagami could've been his destined rival when they first met on the street, and he wondered if he would've ever been as happy as he was now if Kagami never came back from America and if they'd never met. If Aomine put myself in an outsider's perspective, it was only the space of a few years since he'd started searching and searching for the right person, yet it almost seemed like a lifetime for him. And when he really thought about it now, he'd always been waiting._

_Waiting for the right person to show up and beat some sense into him._

_Like Kagami had done._

_"Aomine-kun, I think I have been traumatized for life."_

_Aomine's gaze snapped towards the door, and when he recognized the ghastly silhouette crouching underneath a table, he nearly fell off the bed._

_"T-Tetsu?!"_

_Aomine gave him a troubled gaze and scratched the back of his neck, "We-were you watching? All this time?"_

_Tetsu's big eyes and exaggerated mortified expression gave Aomine his answer, and then he saw his former shadow's face turn back into it's expressionless form and his lips curve into a small, wicked grin that gave Aomine goosebumps._

_"Hmmm," Tetsu continued, still using his monotone speech yet harbouring a strange smile, not directly answering his question, "I wonder how Aomine-kun would react if I said that I wasn't... the only one?"_

_Then he burst into laughter -well, seeing as Kuroko's voice is unable to raise on a higher level than normal, it could be considered as half a chuckle and half a cough-, and briskly opened the door that was left slightly ajar, making five other person stumble blindly inside the room._


	13. Winning isn't a Given ( I )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine doesn't know why he came, but when he arrived (somehow being even earlier than Satsuki), the first thing he noticed was a certain red-head, ignorant about his presence, sitting in Seirin's bench and grinning like the idiot he was.  
> His smile cleared the doubts in Aomine's mind and he took a chair, reserving another one for the pinked-haired girl who was unusually late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Seirin VS Yosei, and I'm sorry cuz nothing actually happened here, it's just me desperately trying to follow some of the real storyline, which is getting difficult, cuz in the real story none of this rly happened... BUT ILL TRY MY BEST TO RELATE!  
> I'm hoping you guys will like it!!!  
> And sorry for the delay~~~ (next chappie will be up sooner than this) I had this huge french thingie that my scary teacher wanted and believe me, you do not wanna know what she'll do if.... (I'm scared just thinking about it)

_Aomine wasn't really sure why he came, but he found himself standing in the middle of a crowd where a match that wasn't his was about to begin._

 

* * *

 

_Tokyo__

_23:47:31__

 

_"Hmmm," Tetsu continued, still using his monotone speech yet still wearing that same strange smile, not directly answering to his question, "I wonder how Aomine-kun would react if I said that I wasn't... the only one?"_

_Then he burst into laughter -well, seeing as Kuroko's voice is unable to raise on a higher level than normal, it could be considered as half a chuckle and half a cough-, and briskly opened the door that was left slightly ajar, making five other person stumble inside the room._

_Dramatically making their appearances through falling on their asses inside Kagami's bedroom, were, namely, a red-faced Kise, an equally flustered Himuro, a hyped-looking Momoi, a slightly blushing Midorima and an overly excited Takao. Aomine was stunned speechless, and when he regained his senses, glared at them. He didn't care that they had saw, he just...cared more about if they now had strange feeling towards Kagami._

_Midorima huffed a bit and adjusted his glasses, the red dusting his cheeks not really leaving his face, "_ Just _to make myself clear, I don't intend to let myself be viewed as a person who had committed an act of voyeurism, and had only -I daresay- unfortunately 'stumbled upon' this situati-"_

_"Oh, but, Shin-chan," Takao piped up, cutting off his teammate before he could finish, "You had seemed to enjoy the view the most, out of all of us."_

_"_ **_I most certainly did_ not** _**!** " he hissed, but his face became redder than ever. And it didn't help that his tone of voice was totally unconvincing._

_"Urgh, it's not- it doesn't matter who saw," Aomine shut them all up by raising his voice and sighing in exasperation, "Just don't- Never. Ever. Ever. Tell Kagami. About this. Ever."_

_Kise sniggered, and he flashed him an Elvis smirk -What the actual fuck?! When did Kise learn such an evil facial expression like that?-, "Nah, don't worry, Aominecchi."_

_"We won't tell Kagami-kun," finished Kuroko. Then the shadow gave Aomine a wink._

_Kuroko. Winked._

_Oh, Aomine was sure he was going to hell._

 

* * *

 

_"Dai-chan?!" Aomine turned around when he heard his name being called, and found Satsuki staring at him like he was a rare german museum piece or something, her eyes literally dropping out of their sockets and her jaw sweeping the floor. She stood on the platform, a few feet away from where he was sitting, and quickly composed herself again to make her way towards the seat he'd reserved for her._

_"Look who's late."_

_"But- That's not even- You don't- You **never** go to a match! Like, not even your own matches!" she started to say, the level of her voice not exactly subtle, seeing as a little crowd of people was now looking at them. Though Aomine couldn't really care less about other people's personal opinions, her face that was knitting her eyebrows together in an attempt to convert her words to him by telepathy simply looked ridiculous, "How **did** your mom convince you to drag your lazy ass here, anyways? She's a goddess. I've made up my mind. I'm worshipping her."_

_He raised his eyebrow._

_"What? It's true you never come!" she said, then after thinking about it, added, "At least not willingly!"_

_He chuckled, and his eyes darkened as his attention snapped back towards the benches -looking for Kagami, wanting to see his face, wanting to_ meet his eyes _\- and scanned the court, searching for the point score that showed 0-0, "For one, I know that my laziness probably comes from my mom. And second, don't look so surprised."_

_Satsuki's eyes were glazed with worry when she saw the light inside Aomine's eyes dwindle again._

_It suddenly felt like Aomine was remembering something from the time where everything seemed most dark, but then she noticed something else from those same electrifying blue orbs that weren't ablaze with the same passionate, wild fire that nobody could control._ _They didn't have the explosive quality of a forest fire, but they had those calm, lingering feeling of a sparkling, of a tiny flame, that slowly spread until it grew wider and wider and warmer and warmer._

 _She didn't really know if it was a good thing; but the small, tiny spark of_ something _seemed to generate more heat than the fire they had before, and it seemed to grow stronger._  

_And stronger._

_Her gaze lingered on him before they peered at what his eyes were seeking, and after having looked back and forth between Seirin's benches and her childhood friend -without Aomine's knowledge-, she gasped. Her mouth opened, closed, and it curved into a too straight line that very much resembled a badly-stifled smile._

_"Say, Dai-chan..."_

_"What?"_

_"Did you, perhaps, come here to look for-"  
_

_"Satsuki, shut up."_

_In the corner of her eyes, Aomine's ears seemed to redden as she smiled internally. Then she focused her attention back on the court when her ears picked up the sound of the whistle and the slight thud of the ball touching the tips of someone's fingers as they wrapped around it._

 

* * *

 

_Aomine could've probably heard the cheers for Yosen High's first point score if his eyes hadn't been busy searching for the red-head's face, that had surprisingly vanished from view when he had failed to surpass Murasakibara. Kagami really couldn't be that weak, disappointed for not scoring, but he had to be at least shocked from the immense control the purple-haired giant had on the court. Even Aomine, who could be considered far from the court, had felt the immense pressure his former teammates had exerted on Seirin._

_When his eyes finally landed on Kagami, he noticed that the red-head was smiling. There was definitely a different aura around his body._

 

_It was like that time, on the court. When their eyes clashed together like fire and electricity, both wanting to dominate the other's light, and when their beasts came to life._

_Kagami was always a Miracle, but he was one who never became one of the Miracles._

_Kagami always had the inner beast inside him, like they had theirs, but it had never awakened._

_And when it will, when it_ does _... Aomine still remembered when he felt his. Aomine still remembered the sudden, weird sensation that coursed through his entire being, the weird sensation that had seemed to electrify his bones and open his eyes and completely took over his brain when his fingers wrapped around the ball's skin, handling, steering it towards a direction he didn't use his mind to think about, steering it towards the directions of winning, purely by his instincts._

 

Roaring from his inner depts.

Clawing out the bars of its cage.

Unleashing immense power, controlling anyone who was in its way.

 

_At the start of the second quarter, Serin was losing._

_But Aomine was starting to become weary of the menacing look growing wider and wider inside those fiery red orbs, narrowing them into slits, blurring the black iris into those of a tiger's._

 

 _His blue eyes had noticed every shiver, every steal attempts and every small movement that Kagami had made. And since he never looked away, he became increasingly curious as to why the red-head's body became more and more restless, and uselessly performing his formidable jump even at the smallest of occasions. It wasn't necessary. It wasn't vital._ _It didn't change anything._

_And suddenly he understood._

_Kagami was seemingly unconsciously showing his frustration as to why he couldn't score even point by carelessly using his full strength whenever he was in possession of the ball. Aomine gritted his teeth and bit his lower lip absent-mindedly. If the red-head was doing exactly what Aomine thought he was, then he'll lose. If he does, Seirin won't stand a chance without their ace. And Tetsu, as smart as he can be and as devilishly as he can plan couldn't do anything about it if Kagami runs out of energy._

_"Stupid, stupid Bakagami!..." Aomine didn't even notice that he was that muttering over and over under his breath, and his eyes started to scan the entire court, as if he was playing with them, as if he could help if he saw something that was missing in the way they were playing the game. Because, obviously, there was a 30% chance that Seirin could win, it was just a matter of where lies that 30 percent of chance, "What are you doing? What are you doing?..."_

_Satsuki shifted in her seat. It wasn't that she wasn't supportive of Yosen High, but she wanted for Tetsu to change something in all their former teammates. She wanted him to win; she wanted Seirin to win._

_Maybe it was because he was just beside her. Maybe it was just because she also thought of the same thing, yet chose to not voice it aloud._

_When Kagami attempted another dunk by overusing his power jump, it worked at first, the difference between their heights enabling him to succeed in passing Okamura, but their defences were still too strong; the red-head, after his ball was blocked, as Aomine continued to observe with anxiety, was difficultly trying to catch his breath whereas Murasakibara stood there impassive, having only raised his hand to crush the crowd's hope of finally seeing Seirin score a point._ _But then something really strange happened._

_Kagami smiled._

_Aomine saw it. It was only a slight curve to his lips. He was almost too far away._

_But he still saw it._

_The red-head's gaze didn't slip away when the ball failed to go in, his attention didn't focus on something else other than his opponent, but, like two puzzle pieces forming into one, Tetsu appeared out of nowhere and stood behind Kagami. As if they could still play. As if nothing was lost._

_Those rough hands turned a 65° and passed to Tetsu, who caught it without hesitating, without passing to another. His blue eyes peeked towards Kagami's and they both agreed on something, though everyone in the crowd and everyone on their team, Aomine was sure, knew nothing about the silent communication these two had had in a mere glance. Tetsu's legs slid even further down on the ground, and his posture became that of a shooter's._ _  
_

_Tetsu was going to shoot the ball. Tetsu._

_Murasakibara seemed to have understood it after it was too late, but how could he have known if, as his former teammate, he had seen the shadow shoot but never succeed? How could he have known that, this time, he actually would?_

_Because he did._

_Because, this time, he did succeed at proving that he could beat the Miracles. Because, this time, the ball did go in._

_Murasakibara's eyes went wide in search for the ball. He never saw it in front of him. Yet there it was, behind him, having already passed the basket ring, having already scored Seirin's first point._

_Aomine suddenly thought about how everyone else changed, without him ever noticing it. He wasn't a person who cared a lot about other people's lifestyle anyways, but he was suddenly overthrown in a flashback where all of them were normal once again._

_A single image appeared in his mind. That of Kise laughing, of Midorima fighting with Murasakibara, of Akashi pleased and observing, of Satsuki beaming at Tetsu's side, and of Tetsu smiling. He saw himself, he saw himself walking behind them, looking at them from a distance and thinking about how good it would've been if this dream had continued, how happy he could've been if they never had those powers, if he'd never met them in the first place, if Teikou didn't exist, and if they all went to separate schools and never knew how strong of a team they could be._

_Aomine probably won't ever feel that content again._

_But now, if he thought about it, maybe it's possible if he's with Kagami._

_He knew he shouldn't be thinking about this, about any of this, but he couldn't help it. Maybe they would come to hate each other, after being together for less than two weeks. Maybe they were never meant for each other in the first place. Maybe he decided everything too soon, too soon._

_In that moment, he had already told himself that he would love Kagami. In that moment, he had promised to love him._

_In that moment._

_Didn't he decide everything 'in that moment'?_

_He didn't want to think of it like that._

_Will this be one of those many promises that he can't keep?_

_Will this be one of those many broken promises that he'd always been too hasty to break?_

_The game continued on. Time continued on while he was spacing out, and when he came back again, the third quarter had started._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER, ITS WHERE EVERYTHING RLY STARTS...


	14. Winning isn't a Given ( II )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of the previous match...
> 
> Aomine thought about their choices, and how would it affect their respective futurs. Even if he had already once told himself that he would never again regret his choices, maybe this one was a mistake...  
> He didn't care about how others viewed him, but Aomine didn't want to ruin his family's reputation.  
> He didn't want to ruin Kagami's futur.
> 
> It would be less painful if they stopped now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, I'm so sorry... School just suddenly started blasting us with homework and projects and exams even though we just started school year. (So unfair) And, although I promised myself to at least update once per month, or half a month, I'm walking on a thin thread of line here. I hope I'll be able to update though, I've really grown attached to the story. And I sincerely hope you guys like it too!
> 
> But, just for spoilers:
> 
>  
> 
> This is kind of a waste chapter, cuz it's just for plot twist settlement and suspense for the next big break.  
> Though you guys will get an inside of what Aomine's thoughts really are. He isn't that naive, you'll see. The love he has for Kagami is kind of, complicated. (IT IS LOVE, OF COURSE, but complicated)
> 
> THX for following this!!! XD

_While the game continued, Aomine's mind had stopped. His eyes had stopped watching, as if holding the game on pause._

_He thought about Kagami; he thought about his future,_ their _future._

_And he thought about his possible role in it. His possible influence on Kagami._

_But the only thing that bothered him was whether his role would be a good one, or a bad one._

_It wasn't that he didn't like Kagami, that was the exact opposite of what he truly felt, but maybe they just weren't right for each other. Kagami, as a miracle, could do so much more in his future if Aomine didn't interfere, if Aomine stays just a friend. He could get into a great school, he could make basketball his career, he could go to America. Not that having Aomine as a lover would obstruct this path, but it would be more difficult._

_The path they chose was a hard one. From start to finish, obstacles were blocking them from everywhere. Obstacles that took form of both their parents, their friends, the society, personal problems, time and feelings._

_This world, this world still made of black and white things, superficial things, didn't yet approve of what they called 'homosexuals'._

_For the first time in his life, Aomine felt like the target._

_He felt like prey to things that were bigger than him and beyond his control. When he thought about other people's discrimination against their said forbidden relationship, he suddenly became conscious about the question 'what if what they did wasn't right?'. In his head, both voices were arguing over it while the crowd, oblivious to him and his inner thoughts, continued on roaring every time the ball was thrown into the ring. While the players, oblivious to his inner thoughts, continued on chasing after their opponents and trying their best to win. While Satsuki, while Tetsu, while Kagami, continued on fighting, their life story consecutively being written with every second that passed by, possibly marking a new chapter of their lives._

_And Aomine was left alone inside his own dark world, getting swallowed by guilt, consumed by hesitation, his heart slowly falling inside the deepest abyss that was known as fear._

 

* * *

 

_The sound of the whistle was accompanied with the end of the match._

_Seirin had won._

_Not easily, no._

_Not undoubtedly, not effortlessly. And while the winning team celebrated their astounding victory, the other team remained perplexed as to their defeat. Their was only one question plaguing their minds._

How could they have won?

Seirin's basketball team only formed one year ago. Yosen had been long ago one of the strongest in basketball.

It should've been impossible.

_But the cheers coming from the crowd, from the new fans that had watched and admired Seirin's plays throughout the game told them the opposite. The silence of their own coach and the aura around their teammates told them that, indeed, Seirin had won._

_And that they had lost._ _  
_

 

_It hadn't been easy for Aomine to see what was going on down there. One of Seirin's players, one of the Uncrowned Kings, had seemed to be struggling at some point in the match, and Satsuki had hummed in deep thought, probably trying to figure out the pained look on Kiyoshi's face and why he wasn't subbed out after he fell. It couldn't be good for him, but Satsuki didn't know, didn't comprehend why he was willing to go to such mesures to win._

_During the fourth quarter, Satsuki had also sensed something else, something different. The previously somewhat mild aura around two particular opponents had suddenly taken a turn for the worst, and, just before the start of the fourth quarter, the air hung heavy and dark between Kagami and Himuro. Maybe the crowd didn't notice, but Aomine did, and he was sure that he only did because he knew Kagami so well._

_His composure had changed. The stupidly blind hope that had previously shone inside his eyes had vanished, and was replaced by a grim-looking expression that captured his whole face._

_Kagami's mouth crisped. His eyes narrowed. His arms flinched._

_These movements always happened when he ran close to Himuro with the ball in the crook of his palm. These movements always occurred when his eyes would wander and lock on Himuro's gray ones._

_And Aomine didn't understand why._

 

* * *

 

_"Kurokocchi~, the shoot you made wash a-ma-shing!" the blonde's voice completely covered everyone else's. Kise was apparently a quite happy drunk._

_"I think one shot is enough, Kise-kun." The phantom player said, ripping the vodka out of Kise's hands, which earned him an 'not nearly!'. And as Tetsu turned around, he saw Aomine entering the bar and gestured for him to join them. He hesitated slightly before making his way towards them when Tetsu said, "I'm not sure if Kagami-kun is here."  
_

_"S'fine," he said gruffly, "I'll just go search for him."_

_He walked away and took seat somewhere quieter. Somewhere nobody he knew had a chance of seeing him. He wanted to be left alone._

_Aomine came to the bar even though, technically, he shouldn't. Mainly because it was for majors and he was still two long years away from being a legal adult._ _  
_

_This is probably the first time he ever went somewhere without needing Satsuki to drag him here, except for Kagami's 'cheer-up' party and many nights out with random girls when he didn't yet know the red-head. Speaking of the pink-haired girl, she wasn't here. The only reason why Satsuki hadn't come was because Aomine wasn't supposed to be here anyways, none of them should. This was more than a normal bar. This, Aomine thought as he looked around himself, was what you would call a 'nightclub'. Everything inside and out qualified it as one._

_If he was completely honest with himself, Aomine knew only too much about these kind of places. Aomine still remembered the time when he didn't know Kagami, the time when everything was dark. His mind was foggy while his heart darkened and told him that he was the best. That he was better than everyone. That no one could beat him. That his powers were unstoppable._

_That he was a monster._

_His insanity drove him to do things that he dare not do now. Things that were pleasurable, that calmed his stressed mind. That his monster-self was comfortable with because it eased the immense energy he couldn't disperse. During the time when he fell into depression, towards the second of his middle school years, Aomine had already become uncontrollable._ _  
_

_But, now, because of a certain person, he was able to find his own place inside his world again, he was able to work with his teammates again._

_And he came here to find that same person._

_He'd wanted to talk to him. Not about his feelings. He wanted to talk about them._

_He wanted to know if Kagami had this all planned out, if he wasn't as insecure as him, if he had doubts over their relationship._

_Because Aomine did._

_He didn't want to ruin Kagami. He didn't want to create problems out of something so simple as his emotions. He didn't want to see Kagami's free nature destroyed by his own selfish desires, by chains he trapped himself, and was scared to trap Kagami with._

_His blue eyes impatiently scrutinized the head of everyone near him, but Kagami was nowhere in sight. No one near him had flaming red hair and unnatural height._

_Following the end of the match, everyone started to talk about going someplace, and Kise had started going on and on about wanting to see a real nightclub -seeing as most models are familiar with this kind of thing. Aomine's former teammates came with him, so he just assumed all of Seirin's members were scattered around here somewhere, celebrating for their newfound victory against Yosen High's basketball team. After a few minutes of mingling together with other strangers, Kise was, unfortunately, one of the only persons Aomine had saw dancing and drinking among the vast mass of people._

_Suddenly, the smell of sweetened perfume came flowing from somewhere behind him._

_"Hey," the voice was laced into a honey sweet tone, and Aomine saw, in the corner of his eyes, a slender finger with dark nail polish coiling a lock of silky hair in a suggestive manner, "You look lonely."_

_Aomine turned around and saw a ravishing woman sitting beside him on the couch, her arm gently draping over his left shoulder. Her hand stopped combing through her carefully-curled ebony hair and started to delicately dance on his. The sensual gestures of her fluttering touches brushing over his backside made him shiver. Not of eagerness, but a more antipathetic feeling more like disgust. Aomine knew only too well about women like her._

_They try to tempt you, they try to bribe you, they try to allure you into their trap. Then they start playing you in the palm of their hands, tugging at your strings as if controlling a puppet. The only good thing about them is their looks, and so Aomine was a perfect target. He was handsome, he was needy. Every time he found himself at a bar, women just couldn't leave him alone. Women just needed to get him, needed to be taken home with him._

_And, at the end, he was the one breaking their fragile hearts of glass._

_He didn't answer._

_"Such a pretty boy like you..." she said, her lips smiling even though her eyes weren't. She came even closer, and Aomine, although he didn't move nor flinch, felt inclined to when he felt her breath washing over his earlobe and when he felt her full chest lightly press against his backside._

_"Ne, you do have time for a drink, don't you?" The woman, who was most likely in her mid-twenties, took her hand off him and smoothly slid her fingers around a wine glass and, with her other hand, delicately poured a small portion of champagne into the glass. She did the same with another glass and brought it towards Aomine's mouth. Her left hand, free of the champagne bottle which stood on the counter, slid over Aomine's shoulder and hooked on the V-neck of his casual shirt._

_"No, thanks." he said crisply. He didn't care for these things now._

_"Hmmm... Are you sure?" she asked, her mouth still forming that weird smile that made him shiver. She licked her lips and her fingertips were starting to lower, sliding down his shirt, the change of direction making him uncomfortable with the distance between the both of them, "I'm pretty good at this, you know?"_

_His eyes weren't betraying any feelings he felt inside._

_He would never succumb to this darkness again._

_He would never bow down to his desires._

_This, he had promised to Kagami._

_Where was Kagami?_

_"Fuck off."_

_Her eyes suddenly lit up in anger. She put down the glass and, as though losing her composure, stomped in front of him._

_The woman narrowed her entrancing purple eyes and her mood seemed to have changed completely, "No one ever refuses me."_

_As sudden as she came, her two claw-like hands clasped onto Aomine's cheeks as she came nearer and nearer. Her eyes were staring at him hard, and Aomine didn't even have time to react before he felt himself pulled forward. A pair of lips came crashing onto his own, the paste-like feeling of lipstick on his mouth causing his mind to grasp the fact that he had just been forcefully kissed by the same woman who attempted to seduce him._

_Aomine didn't care about a single kiss._

_But he cared about the pain on the red-head's face that he saw standing near the entrance._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeh, Thanks lots and lots for reading, I <3 u guys~
> 
> XD XD XD
> 
> Okay, I know the bar scene kinda came out of nowhere, and im sorry if it might have confused some, but, just for explanation, they were celebrating at a nightclub, Aomine was trying to find Kagami, he got hit on by a girl, and shit happens in the next chap (look forward to it!)  
> OHOHOH, btw, important news here.  
> I just re-read some first chapters of this fic, and kinda thought that it would've been nicer if the development wasn't so quick (cuz, you know, we've never really viewed their bromance for more than one chapt). So I'll probably add a chappie after chapter 9, so the new chapter will be chapter 10.


	15. Love the Way you Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, since it's totally unfair to not say this, XxlevixX had practically been a co-author on the last chapter and this chapter, and has been, since the beginning of this thing, providing me with lots and lots of great ideas for this story, as well as a amount huge support~  
> I'd also like to thank TheDwelllingDarkness, ChildOfTheStar, Saemoon, ShownSwagger for their EXTREME SUPPORT in this story!!! And also, i rly dont like to make notes like these because every one of those comments helped me with this story, and i dont want to pick like five ppl only.  
> THX and i hope u continue reading~~~

 Kagami's **POV in the past**

 

_No. It couldn't be. I refused to believe it._

_It couldn't be._

_It couldn't be._

_He lied._

* * *

 

_He couldn't recognize anyone in the huge wave of people standing between him and everyone else._

_Even though only seconds ago, things were different, Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, the team members that had agreed upon a late night party at this bar called **Number 7** , as well as Izuki, were nowhere to be seen._

_"Good evening, Kagami-kun," Kuroko's voice could only just reach Kagami's ears, muffled by the sound of music covering the entire room. If he could, he would've went somewhere quieter, somewhere without those loud DJs turning on every speaker they could find and the mass of crowd moving and dancing whereas Kagami could scarcely stand on his own feet, barely refraining from getting swept up and pushed into the crowd's embrace,"So here you were."_

_"Kaga-hicc-micchi~" There wasn't a place in the world where he wouldn't recognize the voice. And even when he was drunk, Kise's smiling face still shone so brilliantly everything else seemed dulled compared to his flashy nature -and of course blond hair._

_"Hey, Kuroko, Kise," Kagami said. His eyes weren't focused on the two players before him, but seemed to be searching for someone. Though when Kuroko looked around, none of what he saw could be something that Kagami would be looking for. Whilst Kuroko gave his friend a questioning look, the red-head had other things in mind than explaining what was going on, "Um, Kuroko, have you seen Tatsuya? Or Alex?"_

_The phantom player hesitated before denying by shaking his head, "Why?"_

_"I...," Kagami's eyes suddenly seemed to mystify, and his hand reflexively reached for a the chain around his neck, caressing the silver ring that was hung on it, "...need to settle something with Tatsuya."_

_Kuroko took the hint and stayed quiet._

_Kagami could sense his friend almost bursting to ask questions, and he appreciated the fact that, despite himself, Kuroko's normally calm nature took over and he decided to stay silent after all. It wasn't that Kagami didn't want to answer those questions, but to answer them would mean to explain them, as well as the whole story behind it, and Kagami wasn't ready for that. He felt something slightly tug at the corner of his shirt._

_"Kagamicchi, I think Aominecchi went that *hicc* way," Kise added as an afterthought, raising his arm and pointing towards the door most probably leading towards the private rooms._

_His eyes enlarged, and he looked at Kise for a second, probably wondering how Kise knew his heart could've been searching for Touou's ace player, even if his mind discountenanced and leap towards his brother instead. Was it that obvious that Kagami's heart had changed owners? Was it that obvious what Aomine had done?_

_It probably wasn't._ _  
_

_Kise had only guessed. Kagami had only imagined._

_Nevertheless, Kagami still turned towards the doors as he mouthed a 'see you later' to both his friends._

_Although he felt his feet walking, his mind was elsewhere._

_Where could Tatsuya have possibly gone? He was sure that he came. But maybe his brother just didn't want to see him. And where was Alex anyway? Didn't she promise that she'd come to support him? She was always the one cheering him on. She was the one who suggested that he make up with Tatsuya._

_"Ow!" Kagami lost his balance and fell to the ground, the sensation of his heart skipping a beat as his butt suddenly hit the cold, hard floor more than familiar._

_This reminded him of something._

 

"Ow..." Great. Now I'm sure that by the time I get to school I'll be late. Plus the teacher already hates me since I used his head as a basketball once while I was sleeping in class.

I looked up from the ground and saw an incredibly handsome guy.

His tanned skin emphasized the colours of his eyes, bringing out the electric blue orbs inside his pupils and his same-coloured hair. His eyebrows and his mouth formed a permanent scowl edged on his face and he looked at me with a slightly annoyed glare. Just from looking at him, I could almost feel the muscles flexing beneath this guy's T-shirt, from what I could see, this dude surely worked himself hard. Heck, this guy looked like good basketball material.

"Like what you see?" he said, smirking, voice full of arrogance.

 

_Except this time, when he looked up from the ground, rubbing the sore spot on his head, it wasn't the familiar, blue-haired, tanned-skin person his eyes were used to seeing._

_It was Tatsuya, precisely who he came to look for._

_His cold, grey eyes pierced through Kagami's red ones, as if he could see through everything the latter was feeling at the moment when he recognized the dark-haired player as his former best friend and brother. The chain on the red-head's neck suddenly felt heavy, dangling around, as if its embrace became tighter, suffocating his feelings and words so that he felt unsure of what he was supposed to say, of what he thought he knew to say._

_Those eyes were warm once._

_All that Kagami had ever wanted was to see them warm once again._

_"Taiga."_

_It was different._

_It was different then when that Aho would say his name. Every time Touou's power forward's mouth opened, Kagami would feel his body start to shiver. He would feel stripped, no matter how much layers of clothes or people he put between them, both emotionally and physically from this simple word that the blue-haired's voice could so easily manipulate using his vocal cords. The rich, deep resounding voice of Aomine could make Kagami weak in the knees by simply whispering his name, and Kagami would find himself willing to comply and succumb to any of his wishes._

_It was different._

_Tatsuya's voice was nothing like Aomine's._

_And Kagami didn't feel weaker, he didn't feel like what he felt when Aomine was here._

_He felt stronger, yet he didn't understand, he didn't want to think that the blur forming inside his eyes was a tear._

_Instead, he willed it back, and, without any hesitancy, took Tatsuya's hand when he offered it to help Kagami stand up._

_"So you were here, brother."_

_Kagami's head whipped around to try to penetrate inside Tatsuya's mind as he heard the words the dark-haired feared to say before. He called him brother. He acknowledged him. Tatsuya had, most probably, forgiven him for what he had done. He had put behind him their pained past and, as Kagami's eyes lingered on the neck of Tatsuya, he could see part of the chain containing the ring peeking out from under Himuro's clothes._

_"But...why?" he asked. He know he didn't make any sense, but he just wanted to be sure._

_"Didn't you know, Taiga?" Tatsuya's eyes were finally smiling._

_Those cold, grey eyes had a light shining inside them, a light that was slowly melting all the ice walls his brother had built around himself to protect his mentality, to strengthen his body. It had_ _been so long since Kagami had seen his childhood friend smile, knowing everything could be right again, feeling that all the broken pieces he had kept in souvenir could be mended with the friend he cherished, "When we first met, you became someone important in the instant I started to know you. I was competitive. I was sure nothing could break us apart if I was the strongest, if I could beat everyone that challenged you to the game we both love so much. But...then the day came -I was naive to wish otherwise-, the day came when you could've beaten me. When you_ could _beat me."_

_"I...thought I was about to lose you."_

_"I thought, if you were strong enough to beat me, you wouldn't need a weaker brother. And before I knew it, envy and fear had consumed my thoughts and all I wanted was to be able to defeat you, so you would admire me once again and I would be proud to be your brother...or to be defeated, and never see you again._ _To be honest, I was scared of the second fate. If I was to fail, it would mean to fail you. You, Taiga, you never wanted to choose, you wanted to escape fate, you wanted to ignore it completely and never have to test your skills against me. It was as if I understood, but my pride didn't allow me to bow down and flee, and so I made the wrong decision and confronted you."_

_"And then you were gone."_

_Kagami had listened, and his eyes never once left Tatsuya's._

_Was this what his brother thought all this time?_

_"And then I was gone." he blankly heard himself repeat._

_"So you've never hated me?" Kagami's eyes looked away. He was almost sure that Tatsuya would've despised him after their game this afternoon. He had won, even though his skills are nothing compared to Tatsuya's, he had won._

_The dark-haired male burst out laughing, the sound of the deep rumble inside his childhood friend's throat pleasant to hear after all these years where everything seemed wrong between them and they had been out of touch, both of them too unsure about their relationship and neither one of them searching to contact the other in any way._

_"Never, Taiga. Never."_

_"My only regret is that we've both wasted all our time trying to avoid each other."_

 

* * *

 

_All that I could see was the woman approaching Aomine and kissing him, their body so close and entwined I couldn't even see Aomine's expression. But then he saw me, and his eyes widened in panic. That was when I decided to not watch the rest, to shut out the world and to get away. Get away from this scene as quickly as possible._

_It was raining outside. I forgot my umbrella._

_Everything was a blur as I remember having seen a cab while I was running and payed the driver extras for taking me home faster. With trembling hands, I opened the screen of my phone and saw that Aomine had already spammed me with messages._

 

 _**You have** _ **11** _**miss calls from** _ **Aomine Daiki**

_**-19:02 where r u** _

_**-19:02 kagami where r u** _

_**-19:02 answer me pls** _

_**-19:03 answer me im sorry** _

_**-19:05 kagami pls answer** _

_**-19:05 im sorry im sorry** _

_**-19:05 it wasnt wat it looked like** _

_**-19:07 im coming 2 ur house** _

 

_No._

_I'm not ready._

_I don't want to meet him._

_No._

_I felt the tear that was suppressed before bursting out and sliding down my cheek._

_Even Tatsuya had never managed to make me cry before. It was always Aomine._

_It's no use. Even though he lied, even though he cheated, the shattered pieces of my heart still yearn for him, still desire him._

_My heart was hammering inside my chest at full speed and I swallowed the pain aching to burst. As I looked at the thunder outside the window, I felt disgusted at myself to have become so weak. The dark skies and the rain only amplified the mess of mixed emotions I kept inside. My finger pressed open the 'messages' app and, helpless, I decided to send Kuroko a text._

**_-19:12 kuroko help me_ **

_My phone vibrated a few minutes later, and I opened the screen to check._

 

**_-19:14 kagamikun_**

**_-19:14 what happened?_ **

 

_Kuroko couldn't see me, yet I still shook my head. Not right now. My eyes started to get blurry once again, and I swallowed a gulp before typing._

**_-19:14 no time to explain, give me an address to go to, i can't go home_**

_He took two seconds to reply._

**_-19:15 572 street xxx. kisekun's. wait for me there._**

_Kise's probably wasn't the best place to go to, but at least it was better than mine._

_But I can't tell him what happened._

_I can't tell anyone._

 

_Because I'll start believing it if I do._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha, you've probably long ago noticed that the title was inspired by one of Rihanna's old songs. Well, an old title for a new chapter! Isn't it fitting?  
> Okay it's not but I didn't have any ideas and Kagami does think that Aomine betrayed him in this chappie.


	16. Never meant to be Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise didn't expect for things to turn out this way.  
> He finds his heart torn between two realities. Both of which are true.  
> He sincerely wants to celebrate Aomine's newfound happiness, but his heart is driving him crazy and telling him something else. Something that he doesn't want to accept so easily. Ever since that night, when he had found Kagami, tear-stricken, standing hunched in the middle of his apartment, his heart had been longing for what he knows he can't have.  
> And he denies it. He wants to deny it.  
> He was always a playboy.  
> He was always straight.  
> What went wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oki, so, basically, this fic is a Kise's POV. Well, at least at first.  
> Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have done this, but oh well, its already out there anyways. Lots of kisses for all my readers!!!! (rly love u guys~)  
> AND IM RLY RLY RLY SORRY for the extreme delay that i never would've predicted nor done if it wasn't a surprise to me too, its just, time goes by so fast! And, unsurprisingly, my writer's block just doesn't.  
> Ok, as a slight apology, I've decided to make this chapter longer -just a bit longer. (The Kise's POV thingie was also part of the surprise, becoz its the only chapter thats not the POV of one of the main characters.)

_Kise's **POV in the past**_  
  
_White. The colour white is described as 'void', as something empty that lacks any colour, that has no meaning._

_He continued to stare at the ceiling._

_Maybe he should've painted it into something that had better meaning._

_Yellow, light. Purple, magic. Blue, mystery. Green, freedom. Orange, warmth._

_Red._

_The colour red means loyalty, it means determination, strength and power. Burning red like fire, the colour of flames. Boiling like passion, like blood._

_Like Kagami._

_Kise slapped himself mentally. He really shouldn't be thinking about Kagamicchi._

_About Kagamicchi's smile, his stupidly bright smile that somehow outshone his own, a smile none of his model-friends could compete against. His laugh, that melodious, that infectious deep rumble that always makes everything lighter._

_Kagami Taiga was a singular person that he had the chance to meet, and he often wondered if Kagami liked him. Even though Kagamicchi had -and has- an undeniable crush on Aominecchi, and even though he really, really wanted to be happy for them, to be happy about the fact that, for the first time in his life, Aominecchi finally found someone he thought he'd cherish, someone who was worth it, Kise would always wonder that what if, what if the person Kagamicchi like wasn't-_

_Urgh._

_See, there is it again._

_He knew he should't be thinking about this. But he can't help it._

 

* * *

  
  
_A few weeks ago..._  
  
**_\---EmotionlessFacade_** _has_ _added_ _you_ _to_ _the_ _group_ _chat_ ** _\---_**

 ** _\---EmotionlessFacade_** _has_ _added_ ** _AbsoluteEmperor, CarrotMan, Cake_Is_Bae, DataFreak_** _to_ _the_ _group_ _chat_ ** _\---_**

 

**_-15:06 kisekun, are you online?_ **

 

**_\---EmotionlessFacade has named the group chat 'GENERATION OF BASKETBALL IDIOTS'---_ **

 

**_-15:06 Kuroko, may I inquire; WHY IS MY NICKNAME CARROTMAN._ **

**_-15:06 Tetsu-kuuuuunnnn!!!_ **

**_-15:07 IN WHICH WAY DO I RESEMBLE A CARROT._ **

**_-15:07 Tetsu, I simply do not understand why this Facebook thing is so popular. My phone has been buzzing ever since the world fell in love with internet. And Facebook is in no way helping it._ **

  
  
_Kise_ _smiled **.**_ _Even_ _though_ _he_ _wasn't_ _really_ _in_ _the_ _mood of being cheerful, he forced his eyes away from the blank wallpaper and joined the conversation._

  
  
**_-15:07 YAY THIS IS SO FUN!!! NOW EVERYONE IS HERE!!! EVEN AKACCHI~~_**

**_-15:08 ok, everyone. no spamming please._ **

 

**_\---Cake_Is_Bae sent a link---_ **

 

**_-15:09 murasakibarakun please do stop sending food emojis._ **

**_-15:10 Btw, Tetsu-kun, y didn't u add Dai-chan yet? Or Kagamin?_ **

**_-15:11 momoisan, i was precisely getting to that._ **

 

 **_\---EmotionlessFacade_ ** _sent a link_ **_\---_ **

 

**_-15:11 click on the link and you'll understand._ **

  
****  
_Without thinking, Kise's finger automatically tapped on it, and when it finally finished loading, his mouth dropped open._

_It was a picture, a picture taken from an outside view. Someone must've taken it while standing behind the two tall guys featured inside the photo. Aomine and Kagami were seemingly arguing on the sidewalk._

_Though Aomine was smiling. He looked like he was teasing the red-head, with Kagami's phone in his left hand, trying to keep it out of reach of Kagami. And his smirk made Kise remember the old Aomine, the one that he had wanted to bring back all these years, but couldn't. The one that disappeared inside and was replaced by a monster known as the Aomine Daiki from Touou. Yet, captured in the lens of this camera, he was looking so happy, so full, grinning as if he didn't have a care in the world. The monster inside his former teammate and rival seemed to have suddenly calmed down in the mere presence of Kagami, and Kise couldn't believe it. They had all known Aomine for a longer time than Kagami, they had all tried, and unsuccessfully, to bring back the Aomine Daiki that was drowning, so how could Kagami have appeased his monster-self? How could he have brought him back from the dead?_

_Kise felt his eyes blur. Why was he crying? He didn't know._

_Then his heart started beating so fast when he looked over to Kagami._

_Kagami was shouting something when the photo was taken. His flushed cheeks suggested that Aomine had done or said something to embarrass him, and he was leaning over to grab the phone, still somewhat farther away from his hand._

_His eyes couldn't move away._

_Kise's breath hitched. It was as if the mere sight of the red-head was a fatal blow to his heart. The thumping sound of its beating seemed to resound in the empty room, and he felt his own hand clutching and releasing his arm, as if, suddenly, there wasn't enough air in the room to breathe. He tried to even his own breathing and continued to stare at the picture, even though he wanted to will his eyes away._

_What was this feeling? Why wouldn't it go away?_

_Why was it so hard, so hard?_

_Slowly, his finger clicked on the button as the screen went black, and it seemed as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He breathed._

_**Ba-dump**. **Ba-dump**._

_His throat felt dry and he wanted to speak, but no sound came out of it. Invisible hands had grabbed his neck, and squeezed with all their might. It was suffocating him. This forbidden feeling that he had buried deep in his heart, hoping it would never resurface again, was starting to wake and kill him from the inside and out._

_Kise tried to relax, letting himself flop onto the bed, his golden orbs blankly fixated on the ceiling once again._

 

* * *

 

_Flashbacks from that day kept on haunting him. And, even though he could usually shut it off during the day, even though he kept himself busy in modelling and fooled around with girls and fans, at night, it all became the same again. All his inner desires came out. Kise had wondered why only Kagami did this to him. He had felt this way before, he had liked girls, had dated lots of them, but something about the way he saw Kagami, the way everyone saw him, that just made all that unimportant. As if possessing the red-head was the sole objectif of it all, but at the same time, didn't want to hurt him, didn't want to be hated by him. What he wanted wasn't an empty shell, he wanted the heart of it, too._

_Suddenly, after he had laid there for what seemed like 2 hours, there was a slight knock on his door._

_His eyes peeked at his clock._

_8:00._

_Who did he invite this time?_

_Lazily, Kise grunted as he willed himself to get up from the bed and grabbed his doorknob, his lack of enthusiasm and frowned eyebrows replaced by an endearing smile. But when the door swung open, that same smile turned into a gaping mouth when he recognized the person whom this voice belonged to._

_"Uh, I can explain."_

_His eyes widened._

_"Kagami?"_

_"Yeah, sorry." he said quickly, as if it were a reflex. Before anything else, Kise seemed to immediately notice his red-rimmed eyes. Something was wrong, Kagami looked as if he had been hit by a car, and then cried about it. Or maybe it was the other way around. "But can I come in?"_

_"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Kise looked momentarily baffled by the request. But he stepped sideways to let him in anyways. After all, it was basic mannerism._

_They settled on Kise's couch, and, after being asked multiple times, Kagami finally ended up with a cup of coffee. Kise deemed that he needed it, judging from the dark circles under his tired eyes, making him look like he could fall asleep at any moment. It was a wonder, really, how such a tall guy -even though he was only taller than Kise by one centimetre- could seem so strong, yet so fragile at the same time._

_After a long while of silence, Kise cleared his throat, "So."_

_"So." Kagami repeated._

_Kise was racking his brain for something to say._

_It wasn't easy._

_"Do you...do you want to talk about it?"_

_'It' ought to be pretty accurate, since he didn't know what he was really talking about, not exactly. Kagami didn't really ever warn him, in any way, that he was going to show up at his doorstep at eight when he should've been at some victory party Kuroko mentioned some time earlier. And the only reason Kise himself hadn't go -since who missed any of those parties?- was because he had a huge assignment due for tomorrow, and he absolutely didn't want to get scolded by his horrendous professeur this time._

_And now, since Kagami had showed up for god-knows-what, he figured he was still going to get scolded for that assignment anyways._

_"No...not really."_

_"Okay."_

_The silence stretched out._

_"It was Aomine."_

_And suddenly, it was as if something broke. Kise's ears could almost hear the sound of something cracking and falling apart._

_"It was Aomine. It was always Aomine."_

_"He was with a girl. They were there, at the party -Kise, I don't think you went, did you?- but he was there. He was there with her; I stood, unable to move, and watched from afar. And when that girl approached him, when she kissed him, I don't know what kind of expression he had but couldn't see his face. I just couldn't watch, and I saw his panicked face when they broke off as he looked over and noticed me. Aomine chased after me, but I pushed open the door and ran outside, away from that place. Midway I realized that I had forgotten my umbrella, and opened my phone to tell Kuroko that I couldn't go home, because home was where Aomine thought I'd be and where he'd look for me. So I came here."_

_Kise was speechless. For one, there was too much information, and Kagami had just blurted out everything, not allowing himself to pause for breath nor making much sense at all, seeing as he seemed to trip over his own words. Though Kise still got the gist of it, he didn't really believe it. The idea seemed absurd._

_Aomine had cheated on Kagami? Impossible._

_That was his first thought._

_"Wait." he said, putting a hand in front of him, "Wait, did Aomine cheat on you?"_

_A dry laugh escaped the red-head's mouth, but his eyes were shining._

_He evaded the question, "...I came here because Kuroko told me you'd be okay with it."_

_"No, I am." he said quickly, not wanting to be misunderstood. When he said it, he felt the other's tense shoulders slump a little, and, though Kagami probably didn't know it, Kise could sense the wave of relief that washed through him. "It's just..."_

_"I also came because..." Kagami continued on. This time, unlike before, his voice was a little hesitant, and he started to shake. "Because I wanted you to help me."_

_"With what?" Kise couldn't really help that he was mildly curious._

_"Forget." he said. And he looked up at Kise, determination flashing in his eyes, "I want to forget."_

_In his red, red eyes._

_Burning red like fire, like flames. Boiling like passion, like blood._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANKYOUUUUUUUUUU~~~ (for reading i guess, i'm always thankful for the kudos u guys give me, that and the love, i'm feeling the love here)
> 
> *whispers* feed this monster if you want more.


	17. I'm always There for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe he'll regret it later, but it was no use thinking about it now. He had made his decision the moment he went out of the cab, the moment he accepted Kuroko's offer to stay at Kise's. And he wasn't going to hesitate, not this time. He needed to be strong, otherwise, he was almost sure that everything he created, everything he built in his world would fall apart.  
> The only thing that stopped him from breaking was his resolution.  
> But sometimes even the strongest could easily break.  
> Kagami wasn't sure if Kise would even accept.
> 
> But he took the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kagami is feeling very broken and confused, and i apologize if this chapter's a little bit too much. But it was kinda needed for the plot development, you know? So pls bear with it, and maybe you'll find it better when everything unfolds piece by piece. (dont worry, I always keep my promises -except when it's about a writer's block, uuuurgh, i'm sure you all know the feeling) XD

_Maybe he'll regret it later, but it was no use thinking about it now. He had made his decision the moment he stepped out of the cab, the moment he had told Kuroko that he was going to go to Kise's._

_And this time, he wasn't going to hesitate._

_Hesitation would only mean that they still had a chance, that everything they had still deserved to have a chance. And the reason why he didn't want to let that happen was because he wasn't even sure if it could be accepted. Kagami didn't even know if he blamed Aomine anymore, no more than he blamed himself. Maybe fate had planned this, he thought, and maybe fate wanted this to happen. Just another small reminder to Kagami that the world isn't supposed to be what you want it to be, and that nobody was perfect._

_That nobody was worth giving yourself to._

_Maybe fate decided in its own twisted way to show him that he needed to be strong, or everything would fall apart. In place of a picturesque image of a beautiful, colourful world where there once was in his head, that same world had taken a darker, deeper shade of faded colours, and small cracks were beginning to form inside the perfect picture, as if glass breaking into shards. He wanted to run towards the holes, the cracks, he wanted to mend them, and it still pained him that he couldn't. He couldn't because his world wasn't real._

_But it seemed so real to him. And if his reality shattered, it would break him, too._

_Kagami wasn't even sure if Kise was going to accept, wasn't even sure if Kise knew what he wanted. Mainly because he himself didn't know exactly how far he was willing to go. His head was lowered when he asked, and he felt as if his insides were burning and churning out as he had the unmistakable impulse to vomit and cry at the same time. This wasn't how it was meant to be._

_But when he finally raised his head, Kise's flushed cheeks and scrunched up eyebrows told him everything he needed to know._

_"Kagami, do you understand what you're saying? Do you know how I feel?" Kise asked. He shouldn't have, he knew the red-head wouldn't,_ couldn't _, say what he's wanted to hear._

_"Maybe not." he replied. As expected, his answer stung and left Kise's heart aching, but he ignored the sinking feeling he had in his stomach and let Kagami continue anyways, "Maybe nothing will ever be the same afterwards. But at least I'll know for sure that everything that happens will have occurred on my account, that it had been my choice, and that we both agreed. That way, I won't have any regrets."_

_Maybe._

_Every resolution Kagami's had were all based on maybes._

_And the rest were only hypothetical consequences._

_It was as if this were a complex math problem based on theories that no one had ever seen before, and where every answer that could be given was theoretical, unknown, depending on every little detail that had an infinite chance to go unnoticed. Nothing was sure, and as time passed by, this problem seemed to grow bigger every second, slowly swallowing and veiling everything else into it like a huge black hole, unable to stop and unable to identify. It was like an infinity of questions and answers, both of them only blurs to Kagami in his current state of mind, and he felt as if he was wandering blindly in a darkness from where he couldn't escape._

_Kagami was this black hole. He was the dilemma no one was able to solve, and this was his problem. How could it be explained otherwise? His brother had tried to save him, and left him when he couldn't. Aomine had tried to save him, and he gave up when he couldn't. It wasn't their fault. How could he blame someone else for his own imperfection? How could he allow someone else to try to save him, when he already knew he was long gone, that he was broken since the day his mother died?_

_Shit._

_He promised himself...he swore that he wouldn't ever remember again. That he would leave his past, his horrors, and everything behind as he started anew. As he was reborn._

_He looked up again, this time making sure that his eyes were staring directly into Kise's. In those golden orbs, he felt as if there was another path, that he could get another chance. The lights reflected inside Kise's eyes flickered._

_"Are you sure?"_

_But he wasn't._

_"Yeah."_

* * *

_Aomine collapsed onto the bench, his hands squeezing both his side, wheezing and coughing._

_He had been searching for the red-head all night, with no sight of him even after he waited two hours sitting in front of Kagami's door. But if he didn't plan on going home, then where was he? Tetsu's? He had called Tetsu in hope of finally reaching Kagami, but their little blue-haired friend hadn't picked up a single of Aomine's eight calls. After a while, his breathing evened out and he gritted his teeth, eyes flashing with inexplicable anger and slight confusion. All his previously forced composure suddenly snapped._

_"DAMMIT!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He lunged at the fence, hands tightly gripping the thin, rusty metal-bars in hope of ripping it to shreds. He let go for a split second, only to fist his hands again and punch it._

_"DAMMIT!" Once. The whole fence shook from the force of the impact._

_"DAMMIT!" Twice. A dog barked somewhere in the background._

_"DAM-"_

_A sudden, prickly sensation on his knuckles made him stop._

_He slowly bent down on his knees, head hanging. Then he looked at his right fist to realise that he was bleeding._

_"Dammit, Kagami..."_

_He closed his eyes and slid down, now sitting on the cold ground._

_"Where the fuck are you?..."_

 

* * *

 

_Kagami made a futile attempt to stifle his moans._

_Kise was sitting on his bed, straddling Kagami's body as they exchanged small kisses. They mostly tingled on the skin of his neck, but even though the mood was okay and he was moaning and their breaths came out has huffs and puffs, there was no feeling. Nothing._

_He felt blank, and he wasn't even sure if that was a feeling._

_Kagami felt his neck being peppered by sweet little kisses, much unlike Aomine's passionate ones. The tanned male liked to leave hickeys everywhere, making a big deal of biting Kagami's delicated skin until they were slightly bruised, and then licking it sensually to persuade him and make him into a total mess. He was intense and wild, and that was who Kagami fell in love with on court as well as in bed._

_He shuddered when Kise's tongue touched the arch of his neck, biting it gently but not quite enough._

_It wasn't enough._

_Suddenly, the blond stirred under him, and as he was lifted up he found himself hugged by Kise, surrounded by his strong arms._

_Those weren't the arms he was used to._

_"Are you okay?" the blond inquired after a slight pause._

_"I'm fine."_

_"Ehhh...? But you don't look it."_

_He felt those golden eyes scour over him, and, almost unconscious of the fact, he dropped his gaze to the ground, not wanting the blond to see anything that he might have shown on his face._

_But before he said anything, he placed a hand on Kise's shoulder and squeezed. Hard._

_"I'm fine." he repeated, though, at that time, Kagami didn't know that, in his heart, he wanted to convince Kise as much as he wanted to convince himself of the fact that he would be okay, that everything would be okay. He probably didn't realise it, or maybe even refused to admit it, but he was unconsciously lying to two person. He was deceiving Kise by sealing his feelings away and putting on a mask. And that pain was insurmountable, but it still felt better than acknowledging the fact that he never wanted Aomine to leave like he did. In the end, everybody leaves. Like his mother left him, Aomine probably wanted to leave him, too, after he saw the real Kagami. Alone in his own bittersweet memories of a painful childhood. Alone in his own world as he remembered, remembered what it was like to be happy and to be full. Alone as he strived to live that happiness again._

_Alone as he sank in a deep, dark abyss, as profound and as still as death, not knowing when he'll ever see the light again._

_Kuroko was the first person to believe in Kagami. He was the one who told him that in a world of shadow, Kagami was his true light. And Aomine had helped nurtur that light in his own way. He was always insulting him, complaining about his light being too 'dim'. But, despite that, everytime he played against Kagami, he showed a huge grin of encouragement when Kagami kept up the pace, and that same smile that the redhead had fallen in love with never died, even when he finally surpassed Touou's ace. Instead, those deep blue eyes only lit up more, like an endless swarm of fire fueled by passion and their mutual desire to win._

_And when they lost, that only made them want to play again._

_And again._

_And again._

_And now, Kagami doesn't know how to rekindle that fire anymore._

_The whole scene was like an icy bucket of cold water that immediately extinguished his desire to play, and Kagami was angry._

_Angry that Aomine had the power to make him feel like this. Angry that he had no control whatsoever on the fact that he was falling deep into the rabbit hole of love, where everything was possible, and one wrong step could take you back a long way._

_But he was never angry_ at _Aomine._

_No, he was angry at himself because he was still weak. Powerless._

_It was driving him crazy._

_How could he?_

_How could he make Kagami fall so hard and just leave him?_

_And suddenly, he bent forward and tilted his head, his lips slamming against Kise's to prove to the cruel gods that he was becoming stronger._

_His hands came up behind Kise's neck and brought them even closer. Kise's heartbeat sped up, he could feel it everywhere, and he concentrated on it, on the feeling of a rising heartbeat, of the feeling of renewed vigour. Heat. Passion. All he ever wanted was to feel those sensations again, something he was sure that Aomine had already given up on._

_Kise moaned into the kiss, face flushed, hands gripping onto Kagami's. Then he broke it, unwillingly letting saliva drip and looking disheveled -and Kagami wonders how he manages to look sexy while looking breathless-, grabbing Kagami by the shoulders and peering at him._

_"K-Kagamicchi?!" he managed to stutter out between puffs of breath._

_Kagami just squeezed his eyes shut and pulled Kise forward until their foreheads were touching, lips only centimetres apart, "Make me forget."_

_But he didn't want to._

_"Kise,_ please _, make me forget."_

_No._

_"...Okay." he said. Kagami seemed pained, but that only made Kise want to comfort him even more._ _Slowly, as if not wanting to scare the redhead, Kise's long fingers touched the back of his neck and he brought their lips together. It felt weird, kissing someone that wasn't Aomine. Since he had dated the guy for about three months now, Kagami could still imagine the ghost of his lips on his own. The feeling of being dominated, being force to accept those strong sensations that Aomine had inflicted upon him was something that he hadn't realised he missed until he couldn't feel it anymore._

_Angry tears welled up in his eyes and he furiously tried to blink them away. Kise immediately noticed, and started to fluster._

_"I-I'm sorry, did I upset you?" Kise touched his cheek._

_He was so gentle, so caring, that Kagami's eyes only blurred more, the tears now coming down as if Kise had somehow managed to turn on the faucet to his bottled up feelings that he threw to the sea, releasing not the little bit of salty sea water that went inside throughout the years, but releasing a whole waterfall. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve Kise. "Are you uncomfortable? Kagamicchi, tell me what's wrong..."_

_Kagami bit his lip before he spoke, carefully,_ _"No..._ I' _m sorry, so why are_ you _apologising? And-"_

_Kagami stopped and froze when Kise pressed his lips against his eyes, brushing his lashes and kissing away his tears. The blond pulled away after a while, and Kagami completely lost the train of his thoughts. His eyebrows scrunched up as he looked inquisitively at Kise._

_"I know," he said,_ _"Kagamicchi, I know that you're upset over Aominecchi."_

_But when Kagami angrily opened his mouth to retort, Kise's gaze softened and he said, "Just- please listen, okay?"_

_Kagami just listened._

_"_ I _'m sorry for taking advantage of you like this. I'm an asshole for doing this. I mean, it was never in my intention to anger Aominecchi or to steal you away, but I admit that I was a little bit jealous of him because he had you all to himself. It's not like I ever saw him smile so brightly, not since his Teikou days, so I figured you were special. But I was wrong, coming onto you and interfering despite the fact that I know fully well that he and you are both my precious friends, and friends should support their respective relationships, not try to destroy them."_

_"I'm apologising for that, for being such a horrible friend, but also because I know that I won't stop, and I don't want to."_

_"I like you, Kagamicchi. And I'm horrible, I know. But I can't stop these feelings. Its been tormenting me since the day I've seen your smile, so bright it outshone the sun. I really,_ really _like you, and it's wrong, and I was a coward and probably still am-" at that, he chuckled sadly, "-saying that I could help you forget, since my real intentions were never as pure."_

_"But I figured hey, at least I'm owning it."_

_He laughed again. Kagami wondered if he'll ever understand the pain in Kise's melancholic gaze._

_After Kise finished his speech, those beautiful eyes stared straight inside his own red ones, and they were dead serious._

_He opened his mouth._

_"I, uh..."_

_But what could he say?_

_Kagami blinked. Even he knew that sometimes he could be dense, but Kise falling for him was something surely nobody could have foreseen._

_"It's okay. You don't need to reply straight away," Kise said._

_Kagami sensed a change in those usually soft, golden eyes._ _The lights reflected inside them flickered again, and his expression turned from earnest into something a bit more...intense. The redhead could almost see a fire being lit inside them, and passion flared as Kise looked at him, hungrily, as if a sheep had abruptly revealed the beast inside, peeling off the skin, turning into the wolf he always was._ _The blond slowly sat up straighter and his hands grabbed Kagami's shoulders as he pinned him down on the bed, grinning at him._ _He licked his lips._

_"For now," Kise started to unbutton the top of his shirt, "Can I continue what we were doing?"_

_Stop it._

_Stop._

_This isn't how it was supposed to be._

_But Kagami ignored it. He ignored this small voice inside his head, he ignored his feelings, and thought that maybe this would help stop the pain. His own insecurities, his faults, his mistakes. Everything would be erased. He nodded, somewhat reluctantly. After all, he was the one who came begging for Kise to help._

_And since he had given him permission, Kise would help him move on._

_He would help him forget._

_He would-_

_"Please stop and think about what you're doing, Kagami-kun, Kise-kun."_

_The first thing Kagami's mind registered was pain. An immense patch of pain that appeared and throbbed on the left side of his knee after he fell from the bed almost immediately at the sound of Kuroko's calm voice resonating in the otherwise quiet room._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM!!! AND THUS, ANOTHER CHAPTER ENDS WITH KUROKO SAVING THE DAY (well at least for Kagami and Aomine's supposedly continuing relationship that needs a happy ending, after all).  
> Hope you liked it~~~  
> comments are always appreciated -and feel free to let me know more suggestions~~~  
> prompts are welcomed as well!!! XD

**Author's Note:**

> Should I write another series but like, a true AU?


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